The Behaviourist Approach - Watson and Rayner : FINDINGS

Question 1

What was Albert’s fear response before conditioning?

Answer 1

Albert showed no fear response to the objects before conditonung

Question 2

What did hospital attendants and Albert’s mother report about Albert’s emotional state before conditioning?

Answer 2

they reported that they had never seen him in a state of fear or rage, and he practically never cried

Question 3

How did Albert react the first time the bar was struck behind his head according to the researchers?

Answer 3

• child started violently
• breathing was checked
• arms were raised in a characteristic manner
• second stimulation, same thing occurred
• lips began to pucker and tremble
• third stimulation, child broke into a sudden crying fit
• this is the first time an emotional situation in the laboratory has produced any fear of even crying in Albert

Question 4

What were the findings of session 1?

Answer 4

• tested again, this time with a white rat
• when the bar was struck he jumped and fell forward, burying his head on the table where he was sat, but did not cry
• when the bar was struck a second time, he fell forward again this time whimpering a little

Question 5

What were the findings of session 2?

Answer 5

• new response to the rat
• did not reach for it, just stared
• when rat was placed nearer to him, reached out carefully but withdrew his hand when rat started to nuzzle his hand
• played with blocks happily
• shows his cautious response was just to the rat
• shows general state of emotion was normal
• became more distressed after further ‘joint stimulation’
• shown the rat again, cried and crawled away rapidly

Question 6

What were the findings of session 3?

Answer 6

• played happily with blocks
• shown rat and immediately responded with fear
• indicates that he retained his conditioned emotional response to the rat
• response to rabbit was as extreme as to the rat
• burst into tears and crawled away
• neither dog nor fur coat produced as violent a reaction as the rabbit
• cotton wool in paper baggage, Albert played with it
• didn’t touch the cotton wool at first, later less cautious
• no fear response to Watson’s hair

Question 7

What were the findings of session 4?

Answer 7

• new environment caused responses to rat, rabbit and dog to be less extreme than before
• further ‘freshening up’ caused stronger conditioned fear response
• even when fear response was weak, still noticeably different from his reaction to the building blocks (always played, never whimpered)
• showed that a distinct learned response persisted towards the furry objects

Question 8

What were the findings of session 5?

Answer 8

• responded to the test objects clearly differently than to control objects (building blocks)
• reaction to furry objects was not as extreme as previously
• clearly avoided them and whimpered
• cried on occasions