Molly Burns
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Edexcel A Level Psychology: Learning Theories Classic Study

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Molly Burns
Created by Molly Burns about 7 years ago
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Watson & Rayner (1928)

Watson & Rayner (1928)ABOUTAIMTo find out if classical conditioning works onhumansDESIGNRepeated measures designDVThe number of fearful behaviours Albertshows when presented with the stimuliIV(1) Before conditioning compared to afterconditioning; (2) Being presented with thewhite rat compared to being presented withother white fluffy objectsSAMPLEOne baby boy, Albert, 9 months old.PROCEDUREPRE CONDITIONING TESTINGAlbert was 9 months old when his responses to numerousstimuli were recorded, such as exposure to a white rat and thenoise of a steel bar being struck by a hammer behind his head.Albert only showed a fear response tothe loud noise, making this anunconditioned stimulus as nolearning was requiredCONDITIONING TRIALSWhen Albert was 11 months old he was again given the white rat toplay with but when Albert reached for the rat the steal bar wasstruck behind him.This process was repeated five times thenext week and twice more 17 days later.FINDINGSBefore conditioning (age 9 months)Albert only showed the fear responseto the loud noise created by strikinghammer against a metal bar behind hishead. He showed no fear to all otherstimuli.fter the 1st trial Albert showed some distress, duringthe 2nd trial he seemed suspicious of the rat and bythe 3rd trial Albert leaned away from the rat andwhen a rat was put next to him Albert started to cry.7 weeks later Albert cried in response to anumber of white furry stimuli including thefur collar of his mothers coat and a SantaBeard.CONCLUSIONPOST CONDITIONING TESTAfterwards theeffects weretested byshowing Albertthe rat alone andmonitoring hisreaction.Watson & Rayner concluded that they had successfullyconditioned Albert to fear the white rat and that his fear responsegeneralised to other white, furry thingsEVALUATIONGENERALISABILITYThis was a study of one young childit lacks population validity as thefindings cannot be generalised toothers.RELIABILITYThe study has high reliability as the use ofstandardised procedures allows for highcontrol over all extraneous variables. Thismakes it easy to replicateAPPLICATIONThis research has demonstrated that phobias can be learntthrough the process of classical conditioning. Therefore, if wecan understand how phobias do develop we can incorporatethis into treatment of this form of behaviour.VALIDITYLacks ecological validity as itwas a lab experiment andthe task is artificialETHICSThe study is clearly unethical. Watson & Rayner deliberatelycaused distress to an infant and continued even though hewas upsetAlso, they gave Albert a fear without knowledge that it could be reversedDouble click this nodeto edit the textClick and drag this buttonto create a new node