Watson and rayner Flashcards
Aim of watson and ratner 1920:
To see if classical conditioning works on humans
specifically if a fear response could be conditioned into a 9 month old baby
could the fear response be generalized to other animals and objects and how long the conditioning lasts
Results:
- when the rat presented alone Albert whimpered. the rat paired with noise again two more times. then when the rat was presented again two more times Albert cried. so the neutral stimulus [rat] is now a conditioned stimulus, crying is the conditioned response
- Over the next 10 days Alberts reactions to the rat and other furry animals (Rabbit, dog, Santa mask, fire) were tested. he showed similar reactions to the rabbit [cried], Santa mask and lesser reactions to the dog this is a generalized response
- Albert was moved to a lecturing hall and his reactions to the white rat and rabbit were the same which shows a transferal of response to other settings
- they tested Albert one month later and found the same reactions although a bit weaker
Conclusion:
they successfully conditioned Albert to fear the white rat and it’s fear response was generalized to other white furry things and transfer to other situation
Watson suggested that the conditioned response of fear would stay with Albert for his whole life
A conditioned emotional response can occur in humans after only a few parings of the stimuli
ethics
- intentionally caused distress
- no informed consent
- no right to withdraw
- deliberately distressed a little Alberta condition a phobic response this caused harm and was exacerbated by his mother when she took him away at 31 days so he was never desensitized to the white rat.
practical issues
- low generalized books he has only one participant is used
- low ecological validity
+ high internal validity as a lab experiment with high controls
+ highly reliable due to standardized procedures
reductionism:
Fear is condition through a paired Association of two stimuli
ignores other factors that could lead to phobic response
the basic units of learned Association formed together to explain the acquisition of complex behaviours making its reductionist
explaining behaviours using different themes
Phobias can be explained through Association, reinforcement and imitation for example little Albert associated the white rat with fear as the steel bar was struck every time he reached to touch the rat.
could use Freud to explain?
Psychology as a science
+ easily replicated procedures
+ high internal validity as it’s a lab experiment with controls
+ establishes A cause and effect relationship
+ reductionist as fear is created through the paired Association of two some stimuli
+generalisable as albert was fearful of the rat in the laboratory and the lectern hall.
culture and gender:
- ethnocentric as it’s in America
- androcentric has only one participant
Nature Nurture
the study focuses on nurture and how general experiences lead to the development of behaviours.
psychological understanding developing overtime:
change and development of technology.
change and development of treatments EG flooding therapy
Development of theories from pavlov to Watson and Rayner
psychology and social control:
fear can be learned and unlearned
argue certain therapies lead to therapists having control over patient EG flooding therapy which forces a person that’s been anxious environment from which they can’t escape
psychological knowledge in society:
explains how behaviours learned
experience PTSD to some extent
explains phobias and has basis behind many treatments for example systematic desensitisation
used in advertising
socially sensitive research
findings of this study shows that fears can be learned and unlearned, this could be used to society to intentionally create a fair response in people for example the response of a client to a stimuli is directly managed by a therapist.
