Little Albert Experiment

One life example where I have classically been conditioned to respond negatively to something that was normal to me is getting close to chickens or roosters. Back when I was five, I remember that I was in the backyard and we had a rooster that was full-grown already. I do not recall how I provoked the rooster because it has been a long time, but the full on moment I do recall was that the rooster chased me all the way from the backyard to the front yard until I reached the door. I clearly know that the rooster was not going to kill me, but the moment just affected me in a moderate way. Up to

How Lauren learned she had a fear in flying? Using the Classical Conditioning theory the possibilities could be endless. Classical conditioning in simple terms is the method in which one determines why and the cause of a condition as well as what has brought it about. There are many stimulus both conditioned and unconditioned that can cause fear or other problems, but the major reason for causes regarding the fear of flying has been mentioned in several articles regarding anxiety disorders.

After the exposure therapy, they have not been scared of spiders ever since. That is another way

Ivan Pavlov's theory of classical conditioning can be used to explain certain elements of Boo's personality, especially her fear of monsters. In Monstropolis, the monsters employed at Monsters Inc enter into a child's room at night to startle them awake and collect their screams. The unconditioned stimulus differs for each monster as each use a different scare tactic, but most often it is a loud roar or scream. The unconditioned response is fear, exhibited by the child jumping

In an experiment called "Little Albert" by psychologist John B. Watson, an infant named Albert was conditioned to fear white rats. He was repeatedly exposed to white rats and was taught fear response to these furry animals which wouldn’t otherwise occur naturally. Although this wouldn’t have been what Albert wanted to perceive as part of his reality, he became extremely distressed whenever he saw a white rat and it was out of his control to

Albert’s baseline reactions to the stimuli were noted. He showed no fear when presented with a rat, a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, a mask with hair, or cotton wool. When Albert was 11 months old the experiments started.

It occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together, one being an unlearned stimulus and the other a neutral stimulus. The neutral stimuli eventually will produce the same reaction as the unlearned stimuli. Ivan Pavlov had been investigating the saliva reactions in dogs. He conducted a study where he noticed that dogs salivated not only when food was placed in their mouths but also when stimuli associated with the food (a bell) was presented. Pavlov identified that the dogs had formed an association between the two stimuli, that it was an example of classical conditioning. A problem with this study was the fact that we can not generalize it to humans. Watson and Rayner rectified this in a later study using a young boy named Little Albert. At the age of nine months old, Little Albert was showed a variety of stimuli including a white rat, a monkey, a rabbit and burning newspapers. Watson and Rayner observed the boys’ reaction to the stimuli and found he showed no fear in relation to them. The next time Albert was exposed to the rat the researched made a loud, unpleasant noise which made Albert cry. Eventually, Albert would cry just in the presence of the rat. After this observation ‘Watson and Rayner wrote "The instant the rat was shown, the baby began to cry. Almost instantly he turned sharply to the left, fell over on [his] left side, raised himself on all fours and began to crawl away so rapidly that he was

First of all, I would like to begin by describing my experience of learning to fear roller coasters, with regards to classical conditioning. To give some context to the situation, I was a brave girl wanting to tame a structure much larger than herself because I had the belief that I was invincible. I strongly believe that my fear of roller coasters can be explained using Pavlov’s “classical conditioning.” Classical conditioning is the type of learning that occurs via making associations. In other words, classical conditioning is a type of learning by which a natural stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response (Feist, 2008, p.449).

The study that John Watson is best known for was that of Little Albert. In this study, Watson and his assistant placed an infant, baby Albert, in a room along with a white rat. At first, Albert attempted to reach out toward the rat as it moved around him however soon after Watson slammed together two steel pipes creating a noise loud enough to scare Albert. After this initial scare, the pipes were hit together each time Albert would reach for the rat eventually resulting in his complete fear of the rat and anything that resembled it (Watson & Rayner, 1920). It was in this study that Watson was using a strategy of conditioning that would pair Albert with an unconditioned stimulus and then conditioning him to become fearful of this stimulus. Do to his research in the field, Watson became known as the founder of behaviorism.

“John B. Watson conditioned an 11-month-old infant to fear furry animals by showing the baby, who was easily frightened by noises, a white rat and simultaneously making a loud noise” (Parke & Gauvain, 2009, p. Ch. 1). This can be compared to the process of nap taking for the child. When the child is tired his grandmother sings him to sleep. He

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.

This is not my memory but a story told to me by my Entomophobia (also known as insectophobia) afflicted mother, and in this case being more defined- Katsaridaphobia afflicted mother. (google it all. I did.)

maria when she was 5 used to go for a walk in the woods everyday after school to look at nature. then on day she wasnt paying atention to where she was looking and ran into a tree. after hiting the tree a swarm of beees came out and stung her. ever since that day she would not go back in the woods for fear that she would get stung agien. this is an example of classic conditioning.

A biological constraint in learning theory refers to an inherited tendency to learn and create certain relationships, and it has been said that some species are much more readily than others in learning such behaviour. Therefore it involves the factors which make populations resistant to evolutionary change and the animals biological make up. In this paper I will attempt to explain the bases of the original biological approaches to learning in classical conditioning in humans and animals, make comparison between animals and the association of fears