Watson & Rayner (1928)

Watson & Rayner (1928)

1. ABOUT

   • AIM
     • To find out if classical conditioning works on humans
   • DESIGN
     • Repeated measures design
   • DV
     • The number of fearful behaviours Albert shows when presented with the stimuli
   • IV
     • (1) Before conditioning compared to after conditioning; (2) Being presented with the white rat compared to being presented with other white fluffy objects
   • SAMPLE
     • One baby boy, Albert, 9 months old.

2. PROCEDURE

   • PRE CONDITIONING TESTING
     • Albert was 9 months old when his responses to numerous stimuli were recorded, such as 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
   • 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.
   • POST CONDITIONING TEST
     • Afterwards the effects were tested by showing Albert the rat alone and monitoring his reaction.

3. 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.
   • fter 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.

4. CONCLUSION

   • Watson & Rayner concluded that they had successfully conditioned Albert to fear the white rat and that his fear response generalised to other white, furry things

5. EVALUATION

   • GENERALISABILITY
     • This was a study of one young child it lacks population validity as the findings cannot be generalised to others.
   • RELIABILITY
     • The study has high reliability as the use of standardised procedures allows for high control over all extraneous variables. This makes it easy to replicate
   • 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
     • Lacks ecological validity as it was a lab experiment and the task is artificial
   • ETHICS
     • The study is clearly unethical. Watson & Rayner deliberately caused distress to an infant and continued even though he was upset
       • Also, they gave Albert a fear without knowledge that it could be reversed