Watson and Rayner - classical study

Question 1

what did Watson and Rayner want to find out - hypothesizes ?

Answer 1

• whether they could condition fear of an animal by simultaneously presenting the animal and striking a steel bag to make a loud noise
• if fear would be transferred to other animals and objects
• if there would be an effect of time on the conditioned response
• to see how possible it is to remove the fear response in the laboratory

Question 2

why was little Albert chosen for the experiment ?

Answer 2

• reared almost from birth in a hospital environment
• mother was a wet nurse in home for invalid children
• normal life
• healthy from birth
• one of the better developed babies
• healthy (weighed 21 pounds at 9 months)
• well developed
• thought study would do little harm
• no one had seen him in a state of fear and he barely cried
• thought fears would develop anyway once he’d left the nursery for home