Watson and Rayner

Watson and Rayner

1. Aims

   • Whether they could condition fear of an animal into a human
   • If fear could be transferred to other animals and objects
   • Effect of time on conditioned response

2. 11 months

   • Reached for white rat
   • Bar struck as touched rat - Jumped but not cry
   • Began to whimper as bar hit again
   • Played happily with blocks so there had been some effect from conditioning - Was not showing a scared reaction to everything

3. 11 months and 20 days

   • Moved from dark room to lecture hall in presence of four people
   • Study effect of different surroundings
   • Negative reaction to all stimuli apart from blocks
   • Concluded that there were transfers to different stimuli

4. Conclusions

   • Conditioned emotional responses last longer than one month, though weaker
   • Taken from hospital so could not remove from conditioned emotional response
     • Responses could last for a lifetime
   • Objects similar to white rat had a negative response so showed stimulus generalisation

5. Procedure

   • Chose Albert B as participant
     • Reared in hospital due to mother being a wet nurse
     • Healthy from birth, well developed and unemotional
   • Single case experiment due to one participant
   • Tested Albert for fear reactions at 9 months old
     • White rat, rabbit, cotton wool and other stimuli used
     • Showed no fear
     • Showed fear when loud noise made

6. Strengths

   • Study was carefully documented
     • Witnesses helped record data and strict controls in place
   • Study evidence that classical conditioning works in humans

7. Weaknesses

   • Not ethical as continued experiment even though Albert was distressed
   • May not be valid as setting and task artificial