Little Albert

Question 1

what was the aim of little albert

Answer 1

to explore how classical conditioning could be used to create a phobia in humans using classical conditioning principles

Question 2

what was the procedure of little albert

Answer 2

• pre conditioning test = while little albert was 9 months his response to numerous stimuli was recorded, these include exposure to a white rat and the noise of a steel bar being stuck by a hammer behind his head. Albert only showed a fear response to the loud noise, making it the unconditioned stimulus as no learning was required, this was done to establish a clear starting point
• conditioning trials = when allbert was 11 months old he was again given the white rat to play with but when he reached for it the steel bar was struck behind him. this process was repeated 5 times the next week and twice more 17 days later. this was the conditioning process
• post conditioning test = afterwards the effects were tested by showing albert the rat alone and monitoring his reaction

Question 3

what were the results of little albert

Answer 3

before conditioning albert only showed her to the loud noise. showed no fear to any other stimuli
after the 1st trial albert showed some distress
during the 2nd trial he seemed suspicious of the rat and by the 3rd trial he leaned away and when a rat was put next to him he cried
7 weeks laters albert cried in response to a number of white furry stimuli including the fur of his mothers collar and a santa beard

Question 4

what was the conclusion of little albert

Answer 4

succeeded in conditioning an infant to fear of an animal the child would not ordinarily be frightened of
stimulus generalisation also was claimed in that albert transferred the fear to other similar stimuli
from the fact that the conditioned response was still present after 31 days, watson and rayner concluded it might last a lifetime
ivan pavlov had shown that classical conditioning occurs in dogs but watson and wayne were the first to demonstrate it occurs in humans as well

Question 5

strengths of little albert

Answer 5

supported pavlovs findings, good control
study was carefully documented, witnesses helped to record the data and there was strict controls
only one variable was changed at a time. the extensive documentation meant the study could have been replicated and therefore tested for reliability
increased experimental validity as it had strict controls e.g. albert had no prior learning due to his age that could have influenced the fear response to rats
demonstrated that phobias can be learnt. we can use this to treat phobias

Question 6

weaknesses of little albert

Answer 6

ethical issues - albert was frightened and left the study before the fear was taken out of him. was no full informed consent
researchers deliberately exposed albert to distress. hard to generalise when its just one boy.
lacks ecological validity so findings cannot be generalised to other settings outside the lab as the method used created an unnatural situation which may not reflect everyday life