watson and rayner Flashcards
aim
watson and rayner aimed to:
- imvestigate whether a NS can be associated with an UCS to produce a fear of white rats through CC
- investiagte whether fear will generalise to similar stimuli
- inestigate whether fear will reduce over time
sample
a01-
9 month old, little albert, bought up in a hospital, solid and emotionally stable , america
weakness: not generalisable, could be due to individual differences such as a unusual childhood and cant generalise to adults, whether CC can be used to induce a fear of an NS
procedure
- firstly presented albert with all of the stimuli e.g. rat and recorded responses to stimuli
-2 months later was presented with white rat again although abar was struck behind a curtain so that albert would associate the rat with a loud noise - his emotional reaction was recorded and he was given toy blocks to trst his emotional state and quiet him
-this was repeaed 7 more times, 5 times a week later and 2 times 17 days later
generalisation was then tested 5 days later, sanat claus mask, cotton woll, fur coat, rabbit
strength: highly standerdised, replicate consistency
weakness: cant replicate, breaches to many ethical guidelines, deliberately caused albert to develop a fear and become anxious and cry, crawl away- distress, still had the same fear of the rat 30 days later, suggested would last in the long term, BPS states should minimise any psychological harm
weakness: lacks eco val
strength: high control, behind curtail, C+E
results
- fear of white rat occured immediately after first pairing as crawled away, after each pairing dear became worse, crying, screaming
- generalised to similar stimuli
strength: SD
weakness: subjective data, need heart rate, could include researcher bias limiting valdiity results
