Marshall-Pescini, And Prato-Previde: A Case Study Answers

John Watson used an infant named “Little Albert”, he showed the child many objects such as white rat, rabbit, monkey, masks, burning paper and so on. The child showed no fear towards any of these objects. Then Watson paired the white rat with a loud noise, which made Little Albert cry. After doing this repeatedly the child would just cry at the sight of the white rat alone. This experiment demonstrates how powerful the environment was for Little Albert. Also how two stimuli in an environment, creates a conditioned response. This conditioned response would be the child crying just by seeing the white rat. This also created stimulus generalization, Little Albert then started crying at just similar white things and furry things. Many suspect that Little Albert will stay frightened from these objects. This experiment confirms how environment gratefully impacts human behaviour because of how first they were able to create a conditioned response, secondly it turned into generalized stimulus and lastly how many suspect Little Albert will stay fearful of these white and furry

Mackintosh (1997) starts his paper with a critique of radical behaviourism. In the 1960s, Pavlovian and Instrumental conditionings were main theories to explain animal and human behaviour. However, with cognitivism coming into the picture, learning theory has dramatically improved. Animal theorists started paying more attention to animal cognition, and nothing but well came from it, as researchers

This essay will look at the work of two very famous behaviourists. It will consider the differences and similarities as well as give descriptive detail of their actual experiments and see if any contribution was provided to mankind. It will focus on the theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning which occurs through interaction with the environment. As this was done by experimenting with animals, it is also necessary to consider the rules and restrictions that are needed to be kept in mind as research ethics applies to any experiments done on any living thing.

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.

Alper, L. S. (1993). The Child-Pet Bond. Progress in Self Psychology, 9, 257-270. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from the Progress in Self Psychology database.

That is the reason that anxiety medication can cause a cat to be less aggressive. The next thing that she explains is that cats aren't dumb. Then she explains that cats are very social animals because cats form a hierarchy with other cats. Temple Grandin then explains that researchers don't know why cats form this hierarchy because they don't fight each other for the “top cat” spot. She also explains that cats are super predators and will attack anything that resembles pray such as windscreen on a microphone. Then she starts to explain that cats will notice every little change such as a lamp moved and she says that cats learn a lot about their environment such as the example where she says that the cats will watch a “cat expert” escape from a box to learn how to do it. That is the reason she says cats can't get down from a tree because they probably learn that from their mothers and are taken away from their mothers before they learn that skill. She further backs this up because she state that only house cats get stuck in a tree not barn

The child interpreted the sound of the hammer hitting the steel bar in coincidence with the visualization of the white rat. Even in nine months the child had been programmed by repeatedly hitting the bar and visual stimulation of contact with the white rat, had now become an unconditioned stimulus response by automatically changing physical and emotional outcomes from the child (Porter, B., 2013).

The author of “What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage,” gave me the impression she was a strange person. For starters, she used animal training techniques on her husband. Amy Sutherland was very innovative by trying this technique, but it was very strange and almost obtrusive by doing this. Although, this essay was insightful about the similarities between human and animal behavior. My intellectual curiosity about human behavior opposed to animal behavior skyrocketed after reading this section. Why do animals and human react the same after being put through training, unknowingly? What causes both species to act the same?

Watson and Rayner aimed to investigate; ‘Can we condition fear of an animal, e.g., a white rat, by visually presenting it and simultaneously striking a steel bar?’ (B.Watson, R.Rayner, 2000). To test this method the case study was carried out in a controlled lab-based setting, with participant observation. To first eliminate any participant variables, little Albert at nine months of age was subject to a successive viewing of a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey, a dog, with masks and without hair, along with cotton wool, burning newspaper and other variables. (B.Watson, R Rayner , 1920). Manipulation was the most common reaction to these encounters (attempts to touch or engage with the stimulus presented), Watson and Rayner (1920) write ‘At no time did this infant ever show fear in any situation.’

After several combined events of the white rat and the loud noise, Watson and Rayner also tested if other furry animals such as a rabbit and a dog also elicited a fear response. They discovered that in fact, they did. Even a fur coat, cotton, and a Santa Claus mask caused “Little Albert” distress. This study revealed that if a child is conditioned to be afraid of an animal, this fear can shift to other animals without the distinct conditioning for each animal (Jones, 1960). This concept is known as generalization, which is the

Behavioural development in animals undergoing domestication is characterized by changes in the quantitative rather than qualitative nature of responses (Price, 1999). When being ridden McGreevy et al., (2009) found that horses may be that at their most dangerous (e.g., when bolting and bucking), ridden horses have simply reverted to responses within the predator model. This is interesting because it suggests that no matter how ethologically parallel in-hand work may be, a ridden horse can later revert to these counter–predator responses, seemingly confirming that ridden work may not be emphatically within, the horse’s ethogram. It could also suggest that whatever performance enhancing products are used, will the horse just revert back to these behaviours regardless. This shows that when the dialogue between horses and humans is consistent there is a positive correlation with relaxation and rapport. Inter-specific communication may help the horses overcome their fear and therefore reduce the tendency to use counter-predator responses. When the horse shows something of its own intention, it is often seen from a human perspective to be undermining the human-horse interaction. What horse people erroneously consider examples of reasoning in their horses, turn out to be excellent examples of trial-and-error

We started this experiment by conducting magazine training with Sniffy. The Magazine training technique was used in order for Sniffy to make the association between the sound of the food hopper with food. Every time Sniffy approached the food hopper a food pallet would be delivered through the pressing of the space bar. We waited until the Sound-Food bar association on the Operant Associations mind window reached 3/4’s of the way. This meant that the association between sound and food was strong enough to begin helping shape Sniffy’s behavior. This file was saved to be used later in the training of Sniffy to press the bar himself.

Dogs reacted the same way an infant or a chimpanzee would react without their mother and for a dog was its owner. By doing the experiment on dogs and their owners, experimenters were able to conclude that dogs were emotionally attached to their owners. Therefore, we can conclude since the results are of those like infants, babies form an emotional bond with their caretaker which eventually turns into an attachment bond with their loved one. Babies tend to cry while dogs scratch the door and whine wanting their loved one or owner. Identifying dog behavior helps us identify our own abilities and experiences that affect our behavior. We can utilize the test done upon the dogs to advance the transition of an emotional bond to an attachment bond as the infant grows. The test however concluded that it was separation anxiety that caused the whining and the scratching on the door. What about the baby? The information and results that came from the experiment can help us advance upon the baby and their feelings towards the mother. Dogs tend to act like people but do they think and act like a human? They have the characteristics of acting like a human because their owners have instilled their values into their upbringing. Just like an infant, the early stages are the most important to lay the foundation that will pave the way for the rest of their lives. As for a dog, the way we treat and teach them, they will act, there is no breed that is born aggressive, the dog is dependant on the upbringing of the owner. Infants still have the capability of saying no and not tend to respect their parents as would a

The companionship provided from pet ownership acts as social catalysts because they have been shown to increase social opportunities and feelings of security. There are many ways animal assisted therapy can positively impact a person’s well-being and elevate their overall psychological state. SPCA research has shown that interaction with animals leads to an increase in sociability and helps strengthen relationships through shared interests. Animals promote a sense of integration when they act as social catalysts. Expert psychologist Phillip Messent conducted an observation experiment in nearby dog parks in 1983, he was attempting to report the amount of social interactions that occurred due to the presence of the

Thesis statement: After living with them, I have noticed that although there are innumerable similarities between the dog and the cat, there are also some important differences.