Watson & Rayner (1928) Flashcards
APFC
A - To see if classical conditioning worked on humans
P - At 9 months old Albert was tested with a white rat, white rabbit, cotton wool etc., He had no reaction so these were neutral stimuli // Banging an iron bar was an unconditioned response of crying // At 11 months the noise was paired with the rat 3 times, then again a week later
F - Albert whimpered when the rat was shown alone, then after 2 more pairings he began to cry, at this point it became a conditioned response // Albert also became scared of other white fluffy animals such as dogs and rabbits // The test was also moved to a theatre with 4 people present and the results were the same
C - Albert was successfully conditioned and it was concluded that a CR could be made in humans after only a few pairings of the stimulus and response
GRAVE
G - Sample of only 1, yet Albert was picked due to his apparent normalcy // Cosh (2012) points out that if Albert had been discovered as the one who died at age 6 then it’s possible he was ill at the time of experiment, making it generalisable
R - Carefully documented and Fimled (inter-rater reliability as we can observe the experiment) // Not replicated for ethical reasons but quite easily could be
A - Applied to other research on phobias such as Flooding (Constant appliance of the fear until patients realise it wears away) & Systematic Densensitisation (Looking at pics, then up close, then handling) // If correct and phobias are learnt from once being NS then they can be unlearnt
V - Good construct validity as it aligns with Classical Conditioning // Watson hid behind a curtain so Albert would only pair the CS with the CR
E - Idea of harming the subject made it unethical, yet Watson argued that this fear was nothing the boy wouldn’t endure in everyday life // Mother gave presumptive consent & had right to withdraw at any time (which she did, but because she got a new job)
