Classical Evidence - Watson And Rayner Flashcards
1
Q
What approach was this for ?
A
- the behaviourist approach
2
Q
What was the aim for the approach ?
A
- whether it could be shown that our emotions can be acquired through classical conditioning
3
Q
Methodology
A
- consisted one participant and would be described as a controlled observation because it was conducted in controlled conditions e.g well lit dark room
4
Q
Why isn’t it a case study or experiment ?
A
- it isn’t a case study because it only focused on little Albert’s response to conditioning - would need an in depth analysis on the individual and their life
- isn’t an experiment because there was only one condition
5
Q
Procedure
A
- to test little Albert’s emotional response to certain objects he was confronted with suddenly e.g a white rat, a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, masks with or without hair etc
- he was then tested with a loud sound made by striking a hammer upon a steel bar behind little Albert’s head
- this was done through 5 sessions
6
Q
Name the 5 sessions
A
- establishing a conditioned emotional response
- testing the conditioned emotional response
- generalisation
- changing the environment
- the effect of time
7
Q
What was Session one called and what is it ?
A
- established a conditioned emotional response
- at 11 months a white rat was presented to Albert and he reached out for it
- at that moment the hammer was struck against the steel bar behind him
8
Q
What was session two called and what was it ?
A
- testing the conditioned emotional response
- a week later Albert was shown a rat with no sound to see if the previous experience affected him.
- he was then exposed 5 times to the joint stimulation e.g. he was shown the rat along with the loud noise
9
Q
What was session three called and what was it?
A
- generalisation
- it was questioned whether the learned link between the rat and noise would be generalised to other objects.
- Albert was present with the rat, wooden blocks, a dog, a fur coat, cotton wool, and hair
10
Q
What was session four called and what was it?
A
- changing the environment
- joint stimulation was enforced again
- he was taken to a new environment e.g a large well lit room with four people and was on top of a table
11
Q
What was session five called and what was it ?
A
- the effect of time
- he was taken to the lab but not emotional tests were conducted
- the final tests included a Santa Claus mask, a fur coat, the rat, the rabbit, the dog and the blocks
12
Q
What were the findings of the emotional tests ?
A
- ## Albert showed no fear response to the objects before conditioning and his mother and hospital attendants reported that they’ve never seen him cry
13
Q
Session 1 findings
A
- when the bar was struck, Albert jumped and fell forward but didn’t cry
- when the bar struck a second time, he fell forward and whimpered a bit.
14
Q
Session 2
A
- Albert showed a response to the rat, this time he just stared and withdrew his hand
- Albert’s cautious behaviour was tested by giving him some blocks to play with, which he did happily
- this shows his general emotional state was normal
- after joint stimulation, Albert became distressed.
15
Q
Session 3 findings
A
- when shown the rat, Albert immediately responded with fear indicating that he had retained his conditioned emotional response to the rat
- the response to the rabbit was worse than the rat
- Albert played with Watson hair with no response
