Watson And Rayner (classic) Flashcards
When did this study take place
1920
What was Watson’s and Rayners aim
To demonstrate that an emotion like fear can be acquired through classical conditioning
Procedure: how many participants where there in this study
1 baby boy of 9 months called little Albert
Procedure: what was the independent variable in this study
Pairing of a loud noise (UC) and a rat (neutral)
Procedure: what was the dependent variable in the study
The fear response
Procedure: how many sessions did the conditioning take place in
5
Procedure: what happened in session 1 and how old was the participant
Little Albert was 11 months and 3 days
Taken to a lab
Presented a white rat but when he reached towards it a bar was stuck loudly behind his head
Procedure: what happened in session 2 and how long was it after session 1
1 week after session 1
He was exposed 5 times to the pairing of the rat and loud noise
Given blocks and showed no fear this was to show that his fear was not generally increasing
Procedure: what happened in session 3 and how long after session 2 was it
5 days after session 2
Response to the rat and a range of other objects was assessed (rabbit, dog, fur coat)
Procedure: what happened in session 4 and how long was it after session 3
5 days after session
Albert was taken to a lecture room and his responses to the objects was assessed
Procedure: what happened in session 5 and how long after session 4 was it
1 month after session 4
Final test on Santa Claus mask, fur coat, rat, rabbit, dog and blocks
Results: what where the results for each condition
Session 1 - he reacted to the loud noise
Session 2 - more cautious towards the rat (pulling away and not reaching out)
After further conditioning he cried and crawled away
Session 3 - reacted to white furry objects with fear and showed mild fear towards the dog and none to other objects
Session 4 and 5 - alberts fear to white fluffy objects remained but became less extreme over time and in a different environment
