Little Albert Experiment

The hypothesis was that through a series of pairings, they could condition a nine-month-old child to develop an irrational fear.” (The 25 most influential) Watson started the experiment by placing a white rat in front of little Albert, who wasn’t afraid of it and every time the rat appeared Watson made a loud striking noise. Eventually, Albert was terrified of the rat and in the end, Albert’s fear spread to other common

The baby Albert experiment was in 1920 where a psychologist named John B. Watson tested the idea of whether fear was

Classical Conditioning. Due to Pavlov’s success, Watson was inclined to do his own experimentation. His most famous, yet controversial, being on “Little Albert.” “Albert” was a child conditioned by Watson to be afraid of rats. Essentially, Watson would create a loud, banging noise. This would eventually lead to the fear of not just rats, but all fuzzy animals (John Watson - Little Albert, 2008).

Little Albert an 11 month old boy was chosen as the participant. Watson identified that a white rat did not provoke any fear response in Albert, so it was a neutral stimulus. Little Albert was then exposed to the white rat, but every time he reached out to touch it Watson would make a loud noise. Albert would get frightened and start to cry. After repeating this several times, Albert started getting frightened just by seeing the rat. Just like the bell in Pavlov's experiment, the white rat had become a conditioned stimulus to Albert. Watson therefore concluded that even complex behaviour such as fear was a learned response.

How were Watson and Rayner able to condition Albert to react to different stimuli such as masks, other animals, and a fur coat?

Let's begin with the bad, the Albert experiment headed by John Watson and his wife Rosalie Rayner is looked upon as being uncritical based on the APA code of ethics. The Albert experiment was considered to be uncritical, as it did not protect Albert from psychological harm mentally. The little Albert experiment was conducted to study classical conditioning. Watson was interested in how people developed phobias. Watson could have cured Albert using a systematic desensitization but never

Another behavioural psychologist, Watson (1915) was influenced by Pavlov’s dogs’ (1902). Watson suggested that if reflexes can be conditioned in dogs, then they can be conditioned in human behaviour too (Gross 2010). Watson used Pavlov’s idea of classical conditioning to influence his experiment with Little Albert, where Watson successfully conditioned fear into an 8-month-old boy using a range of different stimuli.

Douglas Merritte, better known as Little Albert was 9 months when he participated in a study along with John Watson. Watson exposed Little Albert to a white rat and furry objects, who before not feared rats and furry objects. As he played with the rat, Watson made a loud noise with a hammer. After numerous of trials, Watson introduced the rat and the furry objects to Little Albert who began to cry in fear of the loud noise. When the rate and furry objects were placed in front of Albert he cried, although there was no noise. Something that was first enjoyment to him has become fear to him. The bad thing about this experiment is that Watson created a child with a previously nonexistent fear. It has been said that Douglas known as Little Albert

The little Albert experiment would not be accepted in modern day as an acceptable research experiment. The modern day codes of conduct in the Psychology world would not allow this type of experiment to take place. The psychological effects produced by the research in the little Albert experiment could have negative implications on a person for the rest of their lives. Creating a phobia at such a young age could program a brain to fear something that should not be feared according to Mother Nature. We naturally fear the things that can hurt us or even threaten our lives but learn to accept and expand our knowledge on the things that are not a threat. We learn this at a young age by experiencing with different things throughout our lives.

Cotton Wool – Albert was shown the cotton wool that was Yes I believe these same experiments could be conducted again today and they would probably show almost about the same results they we got before. But the might change since we will test some other people and children and they might show a different result as Albert

Behaviourist’s such as Skinner (1957) and Watson (1920) supported the environmentalist approach, Skinner instilled certain behaviours into a pigeon through operant conditioning, and he used punishment and reinforcement. He then practiced this method on humans; his book, Verbal Behaviour, explained the acquisition of language. Watson established his ‘Little Albert Experiment’, he showed how phobias may be attained by classical conditioning (Davenport, 1992,

Watson is known as the father of behaviorism. He was born on January 9, 1878 in Greenville, South Carolina. He attended Furman University at 16 and graduated with a master’s degree. Watson then attended the University of Chicago where he became interested in the field of psychology. Watson received his doctorate 1903 and later became an associate professor of psychology at John Hopkins University. John B Watson established behaviorism when he delivered his lectured entitled “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” at Colombia University. Watson’s most famous experiment was the “Little Albert” experiment. In the experiment Watson conditioned a child to fear a white rat. He did so by pairing a white rat with a loud noise. Watson was asked to retire from Hopkins because of an affair he was having with his assistant. After leaving John Hopkins University Watson began working for an advertising agency where he used his knowledge of behaviorism to improve the effects of

He began to fear all furry objects. Any sight of a furry object, such as Rayner’s fur coat, immediately caused Albert to cry. It is said that Albert’s mother was a wet nurse where Watson was testing him so when Albert was a little over one year old he and his mother moved. Watson and Rayner were unable to test their hypothesis on desensitizing little Albert. Still to this day it is unclear who “Albert,” was. In 2009, an article was published saying that the son of Arvilla Merritte, Douglas Merritte, was Albert. This may be true, but Douglas suffered from hydrocephalus since birth, and died at six years old. Documents from Watson’s experiment say Albert was healthy. Then in 2014, two researchers claimed that William Barger was little Albert. Barger passed away in 2007, but his niece whom he was very close to said that when he was alive he genuinely disliked dogs. Since Watson and Rayner poorly documented their experiment we may never know who Little Albert

The Little Albert experiment has become a famous case study that has been discussed by a plethora of professionals in the psychology industry. In 1920, behaviorist John Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner began to conduct the first experiment that had been done with a child. Watson and Rayner chose Albert because they thought he was stable; he was accustomed to a hospital environment due to his mother’s career as a wet nurse, he was healthy and showed little emotion. Stability played a major factor in choosing Albert for this case study because Watson wanted to ensure that they would do as little harm as possible with the experiment. The conditioning of Albert began with a series of emotional tests that became part of a routine in which Watson and Rayner were “determining whether fear reactions could be called out by other stimuli than sharp noises and the sudden removal of support” (-----). Watson’s method of choice for this experiment was using principles of classic conditioning to create a stimulus in children that would result in fear. Since Watson wanted to condition Albert, he used a variety of objects that would otherwise not scare him. These objects included white rat, dog, blocks, rabbit, fur coat, wool and a Santa Claus mask.

For the second stage, a white rat was used as Watson’s CS, the CS must be a neutral stimulus that initially has no effect on the UR. Little Albert showed no phobia towards the rat before conditioning occurred. By pairing the US with the CS, the infant learned to associate the loud noise of the hammer and metal bar with the white rat. After strengthening the association between the US and the CS by repetition, Little Albert eventually became fearful and upset when only presented with the once neutral stimulus, the white rat. This response was the CR which marked the completion of step three. Little Albert was now afraid of the white rat because it triggered his fear of the loud noise. Classical conditioning can be used to prove many forms of behavior between subjects when looking at the the right unconditioned/ conditioned stimuli and unconditioned/ conditioned responses. The theory of classical conditioning can be used to explain the development of distrust and trust issues in the relationships between people.