Watson & Rayner (1920): Little Albert - conditioned emotional response - 8 marker design Flashcards
Aim:
To demonstrate that C.C. could be used to create fear response in a child in a innocuous stimulus (ones that wouldn’t normally frighten a child)
(Method) Procedure: (simplified ver.)
- think step-by-step
- Lab experiment = 1 participant (Little Albert + 9 months of age)
Repeated measure design: - before and after the conditioning
- rat with other stimuli
Participant + any other background info:
Strength and Weaknesses (briefly explain it)
1 participant (child) = Albert B. experiment name (pseudonym): Little Albert strength = ethical = keep personal info private
Cosh’s (2012) - discovered signs of hydrocephalus (water in brain) = participant variable
weakness = credibility = question claim on the boy was “healthy and normal”
weakness = validity = participant variable effects results, biased hence unusable (application)
died may 10th + wasn’t debriefed before leaving
weakness = ethical = failed to revert participant mind as it was before the experiment. however it was found out that the mother left without getting the child debriefed
Anyone else present?
Strength or Weakness
the mother was also present in addition to the current 2 observers (Watson and Reyner)
Strength -study is more objective as inter-rater reliability was present (2 or more observers have to agree with each other to have a final conclusion)
Describe what the researchers did to do for the process of checking Albert’s reaction to a loud noise
11 months, 3 days of age: Experiment
- they created the loud sound by hitting a steel bar (4m in height and 3 inches in diameter) while using a hammer
- left the child for a week = not seriously disturbed
11 months, 10 days of age: Experiment
- used rat + sound (bar struck) + placed closer
- rat nosed left hand + forefinger
- used rat + no sound
- several joint stimulation
- rat alone
- after each stimulation had blocks to play to reset emotional state
Describe the behaviours that Albert has demonstrated through the reaction of the loud noise
11 months, 3 days of age: Experiment
- white rat = reached with left hand then jumping violently + fell forward, burying face into mattress but didn’t cry
- white rat = reached with right hand + bar struck = jumped violently, fell forward and whimper
11 months, 10 days of age: Experiment
used rat + sound (bar struck): fell over immedietly to the right side + no crying
rat nosed left hand: retracted immediately
rat nosed forefinger: retraced once again before contact
used rat + no sound: didn’t reach out
placed closer: right hand reached out
several joint stimulation: fell over right side, rested upon hands, head turned away, no crying but whimpered later on
Latter exp: start violently crying + didn’t fell over
rat alone: puckered face, whimpered + withdraw body to left side
Later exp: immediate crying + instantly turned sharply to the left and fell over left side, on all fours = crawled away rapidly until edge of table
Summarise the behaviours shown at 11 months 15 days, 20 days and on the same day
(just sum up similar reactions for all different stimulus and behaviours that are to the extreme for each one)
11 months 15 days: experiments on 11 months and 10 days carried over however he was hesitant at first could imply that extinction occurred however as the experiment went on it gradually worsened
Behaviours: crying, falling over (dog and rat)
no whimper, played with it, distant (white wool and package)
- played with black start of experiment and after each experiment
11 months 20 days: reacted the same as 5 days ago but no crying so it seems to be weakened
rat, rabbit, dog = combinations of whimpering, face covering (hands), crawling away, distant himself, shaking hand and falling over
- got worse as test progressed however it wasn’t as aggressive and fearful as the previous days
- played with black start of experiment and after each experiment
11 months same day: rat, rabbit, dog = always didn’t make contact and always tried not to make visual contact
Dog = crying and whimpers if present
Later experiment: whimper, jumped violently, no cry, moved away (rabbit and rat)
Dog = slightly cautious but barked 3 times resulted in a wail and didn’t stop until dog was removed
What were the behaviours did Albert’s show before age 1 and after to the different stimulus (rabbit, dog, fur coat, santa mask)
Response before age 1
Rabbit: leaned away, burst into tears
Dog: better reaction than to rabbit, tried to crawl away, only cried as dog approached his head
Fur coat: got upset as coat bought closer got more upset
Santa mask: cried and leaned away, flapping his hands
Response after age 1
Rabbit: wailing, crying and saying da da to the experimenter
Dog: cried but didn’t fall over but when placed closer was motionless then began to cry and covering his face
Fur coat: immediate withdrawal, never touched with hands but did with feet.
whimpered when touched = cried + nodding in peculiar manner
placed on lap = whimpered + nodding =
Santa mask: withdrawal + gurgling, slapping at it without touching it
whimpered + cried as was forced to touch it 3 times then cried by only visual stimulus
Did it last?
Several weeks after; little Albert’s cried in response to a variety of white furry objects such as fur coat and father Christmas beard
He was then taken away from the hospital so the removal of the phobia of the rat had never proceeded
How did it work:
To sum it up they basically ran several experiment with generalisation (rabbit, dog, fur coat, Santa mask, cotton wool, hair) several joint stimulation, rat with sound no sound alone etc
They recorded that data after each experiment
Results:
Rat + bang: reached out to touch it then bang and he jumped and fell forward. by the 7th pairing
Rat alone = whimpered + leaned away
Rat + noise = rat cried + crawled away immediately
shows that NS (rat) is now the CS (rat) and CR (Albert’s crying) and the UCS (bang)
Conclusion + Application:
its possible to artificially induce emotional responses by C.C. however there wasn’t much chance to correct little Albert’s phobia but CS does decline over time, named extinction
This was evident as little Albert was very fond of small animals and Father Christmas hence lived a relatively normal life
Watson and Rayner tend to use C.C. to remove the CR (phobia) but mother moved away and took albert with her hence the experiment ended
