Watson and Raynor Flashcards
What were the aims of Watson and Rayner’s study?
To investigate whether you could condition a phobia into a child
- To investigate whether the phobia would be generalised
- To investigate whether time would effect the conditioned response
- To investigate whether the phobia can be conditioned out of a child
Who were used in the sample?
A single ppt called Little Albert aged 9 months.
What type of method was used?
Lab
What happened at 9 months?
-At 9 months Albert was assessed on his responses to a number of objects e.g. a monkey, a rat, fire etc to make sure he had no fears
What happened at 11 months?
2 months later Albert was presented with the white rat again when he reached for it the experimenters hit a metal bar To frighten him
What happens after the initial conditioning of Little Albert?
At 11 months and 10 days they conditioned him 5 more times interspersed with being presented by the rat alone
How would the elements of Little Albert fit into the Classical Conditioning formula?
the rat was the NS, the metal bar was the UCS and the fear response was the UCR
What were the results of Watson and Rayner’s study?
the first trial when the metal bar was hit Albert displayed distress by jumping violently
- the second trial Albert was suspicious of the rat
- the third trial Albert leaned away from the rat and he fell forward crying
What happened at 11 months and 20 days?
He was tested in another room and was exposed to the rat, the dog, the rabbit, building blocks and the fur coat etc
What are the results of the session at 11 months and 20 days?
He showed fear responses to rabbits, rats, dogs and fur coats but played well with the blocks
Describe the conclusion of this experiment.
It demonstrates that it is artificially possible to induce emotional responses by classical conditioning and from this it suggests that phobias can be learned from the environment.
What is an issue with the generalisability?
Used a single male child so cannot be applied to a wider population (especially of genders and ages)
Would this study be high or low in reliability?
High as it followed a standardised procedure such as hitting the metal bar every time Albert reached for the rat so could be Easily replicable.
Is this useful?
This has therefore led to developments of treatments for phobias, such as systematic desensitisation that use the principles of classical conditioning by associating the object of fear with something good
Is this high or low in ecological validity?
Low ecological as it ook place in artificial conditions with unnatural situation of hitting a metal bar when presented with a rat may not reflect learning in real life.
