Watson and Rayner: Little Albert
Aim:
To see if emotional responses such as fear could be conditioned. To see whether phobias can be conditioned.
Procedure:
Pre conditioning testing: Whilst Little Albert was 9 months old his response to numerous stimuli were recorded, these included exposure to a white rat and the noise of a steel bar being struck by a hammer behind his head. Albert only showed a fear response to the loud noise, making this an unconditioned stimulus as no learning was required; this was done to establish a clear starting point.
Conditioning trials: When Albert was 11 months old he was again given the white rat to play with but when Albert reached for the rat the steal bar was struck behind him. This process was repeated five times the next week and twice more 17 days later. This was the conditioning process.
Post conditioning test: Afterwards the effects were tested by showing Albert the rat alone and monitoring his reaction.
Findings:
Before conditioning (age 9 months) Albert only showed the fear response to the loud noise created by striking hammer against a metal bar behind his head. He showed no fear to all other stimuli.
After the 1st trial Albert showed some distress, during the 2nd trial he seemed suspicious of the rat and by the 3rd trial Albert leaned away from the rat and when a rat was put next to him Albert started to cry. 7 weeks later Albert cried in response to a number of white furry stimuli including the fur collar of his mothers coat and a Santa Beard.
Conclusion:
Watson and Rayne concluded that it is possible to produce a fear response in a human using the process of classical conditioning.
Evaluation:
Generalisability:
This was a study of one young child it lacks population validity as the findings cannot be generalised to others. Albert had been reared in a hospital environment from birth and he was unusual as he had never been seen to show fear or rage by staff. Therefore Little Albert may have responded differently in this experiment to how other young children may have, these findings will therefore be unique to him.
Reliability:
The study has high reliability as the use of standardised procedures, such as the pre conditioning phase, allows for high control over all extraneous variables, this means that it is possible to replicate the study and check that the results are consistent.
Application:
This research has demonstrated that phobias can be learnt through the process of classical conditioning. Therefore, if we can understand how phobias do develop we can incorporate this into treatment of this form of behaviour.
Validity:
This research lacks ecological validity, so the findings cannot be generalised to other settings outside the laboratory situation as the method used created an unnatural situation of deliberately hitting a bar while Albert was holding the rat, which may not reflect learning in everyday life.
Ethics:
Albert was conditioned to fear numerous white furry stimuli. This could considered to break the guideline protection from harm. His mother removed him from the experiment before the researchers were able to remove this fear.
Aim:
To see if emotional responses such as fear could be conditioned. To see whether phobias can be conditioned.
Procedure:
Pre conditioning testing: Whilst Little Albert was 9 months old his response to numerous stimuli were recorded, these included exposure to a white rat and the noise of a steel bar being struck by a hammer behind his head. Albert only showed a fear response to the loud noise, making this an unconditioned stimulus as no learning was required; this was done to establish a clear starting point.
Conditioning trials: When Albert was 11 months old he was again given the white rat to play with but when Albert reached for the rat the steal bar was struck behind him. This process was repeated five times the next week and twice more 17 days later. This was the conditioning process.
Post conditioning test: Afterwards the effects were tested by showing Albert the rat alone and monitoring his reaction.
Findings:
Before conditioning (age 9 months) Albert only showed the fear response to the loud noise created by striking hammer against a metal bar behind his head. He showed no fear to all other stimuli.
After the 1st trial Albert showed some distress, during the 2nd trial he seemed suspicious of the rat and by the 3rd trial Albert leaned away from the rat and when a rat was put next to him Albert started to cry. 7 weeks later Albert cried in response to a number of white furry stimuli including the fur collar of his mothers coat and a Santa Beard.
Conclusion:
Watson and Rayne concluded that it is possible to produce a fear response in a human using the process of classical conditioning.
Evaluation:
Generalisability:
This was a study of one young child it lacks population validity as the findings cannot be generalised to others. Albert had been reared in a hospital environment from birth and he was unusual as he had never been seen to show fear or rage by staff. Therefore Little Albert may have responded differently in this experiment to how other young children may have, these findings will therefore be unique to him.
Reliability:
The study has high reliability as the use of standardised procedures, such as the pre conditioning phase, allows for high control over all extraneous variables, this means that it is possible to replicate the study and check that the results are consistent.
Application:
This research has demonstrated that phobias can be learnt through the process of classical conditioning. Therefore, if we can understand how phobias do develop we can incorporate this into treatment of this form of behaviour.
Validity:
This research lacks ecological validity, so the findings cannot be generalised to other settings outside the laboratory situation as the method used created an unnatural situation of deliberately hitting a bar while Albert was holding the rat, which may not reflect learning in everyday life.
Ethics:
Albert was conditioned to fear numerous white furry stimuli. This could considered to break the guideline protection from harm. His mother removed him from the experiment before the researchers were able to remove this fear.