CONTEMP DEBATE Watson and Raynor Flashcards
What was the aim of John B Watson’s and Rosalie Rayner’s 1920 research on emotional reactions ?
The aim was to demonstrate the application of classical conditioning to human behaviour, specifically creating a phobia where there was none before.
What were Rayner’s and Watson’s method and procedure in their 1920 research on conditioned emotional reactions?
Testing a 9 month-year-old infant, Little Albert, described as calm and unemotional.
They found that on introducing a loud noise he would get rather upset, yet he showed no fear responses to various animals (furry animals - rabbits, rats, or even just fur).
They then presented the boy with a white rat and when he reached out to touch it, they struck a hammer against a metal bar therefore scaring him.
What were the findings of Watson and Raynor’s 1920 conditioned emotional reactions research on Little Albert?
After a few pairings of the rat with the loud noise, little Albert showed a conditioned fear response (crying, tryng to crawl away) when the rat was presented by itself, without a noise.
LOUD NOISE (UCS) -\> FEAR (UCR) WHITE RAT (NS) + LOUD NOISE (UCS) -\> FEAR (UCR) WHITE RAT (CS) -\> FEAR (CR)
What are the conclusions of Watson and Raynor’s 1920 conditioned emotional reactions research?
Classical conditioning can be used to teach an infant to fear certain stimuli.
This fear can be extended over time and generalised to other similar objects.
Evaluate Watson and Raynor’s 1920 research on conditioned emotional responses.
Internal validity:
The study was not carefully constructed, there were no control variables and measurements used were unreliable, as they were subjectively imposed by the researchers.
External validity:
It was carried out in a laboratory setting and therefore it is questionable whether phobias developed in a lab may be extended to the outside world. Would the infant have reacted in a similar way at home, for instance?
Restricted Scope:
In focusing on conditioning principles, they overlooked the possible contributions of mental processes: it has been shown that people with fears of spiders or rats have exaggerated beliefs regarding them or believe that “they’re out to get them personally.” (A bit like Covid repsonses 2019-2020? -ed.)
NB trivia - The Little Albert experiment was apparently only one case out of 500 cases on childhood development the couple worked on (they worked closely enough for Watson to divorce his first wife, get sacked, and marry Raynor).
What are the ethical issues of Watson and Raynor’s 1920 research on conditioned emotional responses?
Today the research would not be allowed, as Watson and Raynor deliberately tried to cause an infant harm and induce a phobia - they knew that the loud noise caused him to be scared but continued with the experiment.
Watson and Raynor argued that Little Albert seemed rather unemotional anyway and that they could do him relatively little harm with experiments. (Q: why would a child appear unemotional in the presence of two unknown adults?)
They also believed that the induced phobia would disappear naturally.
Later research showed that this is not the case.
What are the social implications of Watson and Raynor’s 1920 study on condition to the most responses
As one of the most cited cast studies of research in psychology, the knowledge gained has, it can be argued, been very beneficial to understanding child development, and abnormal behaviour and therapies.
It still creates a lot of debate about the use of ethics and using children in research; while some argue that the benefits outweigh the costs of conducting the research (means to an end), others prefer that children are not used in such experiments (natural rights, duty ethics).
NB trivia - Rosalie Raynor died of dysentry at a relatively young age. Watson never remarried. Apparently, they brought up their children on ‘behaviourist principles’ and Rosalie encouraged severing maternal attachment early to encourage proper development. They had two sons, both of which suffered depression, and one committed suicide. (Source: wikipedia… treat it as a conversation in a pub, there may be some gems in it, but it would need checking references later! - ed).
