Watson & Rayner (AO1)

• What was the aim?

  To show that a fear response can be created within a young child to a stimulus which does not naturally produce this response
• What was procedure?

  > Little Albert; healthy, 9 month old infant

  > Labatory experiment

  > Took place at the Johns Hopkins University hospital
• What were the three phases?

  1. Preconditioning testing

  2. Conditioning trials

  3. Post conditioning test
• What happened in the preconditioning testing (phase 1)?

  > Determine any existing fears

  > Placed on a mattress, his response to several stimuli was noted (e.g. a white rat, loud noise, a dog)
• What happened in the conditioning trials (phase 2)?

  > 11 months old

  > Took place in a different room to avoid extraneous variables

  > Presented white rat along with a loud noise

  > Every time he reached for the white rat, the loud noise sound

  > Repeated multiple times over several weeks
• What happened in the post conditioning test (phase 3)?

  > Showed Albert the rat, monitored his reaction
• What was the result of the preconditioning trials (Phase 1)?

  Only showed fear response to loud noise
• What was the result of the post conditioning tests (phase 3)?

  > First trial; showed some distress

  > Second trial; seemed suspicious of rat

  > Third trial; leaned away but when the rat was put next to him, he cried
• What happened 7 weeks later?

  Albert cried in response to similar stimuli like santas beard/fur collar (generalisation)
• What was the conclusion?

  It is possible to produce a fear response (phobia) in a human through classical conditioning