Watson and Rayner

• Who carried out the Little Albert study?

  John B. Watson
• What principle of psychology did Watson aim to prove?

  Behaviourism
• What idea is central to Behaviourism?

  All behaviour is learned
• What did Watson intend to show about powerful emotions?

  They are learned responses
• What did Watson want to demonstrate about Psychology?

  Its scientific status
• What age was Little Albert at the start of the study?

  9 months old
• Why is Watson's study significant in terms of scientific research?

  It was filmed so it could be replicated
• Which approach in psychology does the study illustrate?

  Learning Approach
• According to the Learning Approach, what is an emotion treated as?

  A set of behaviours
• What specific emotional response did Watson propose to create in a human subject?

  An intense fear/phobia
• What is the study an illustration of, regarding research methods?

  The power of the experimental method
• What does the experimental method use to isolate variables?

  Experimental controls
• What type of variables are isolated and removed in the experimental method?

  Confounding (extraneous) variables
• What type of conditioning does this study demonstrate the importance of?

  Classical conditioning
• The Little Albert study raises important questions regarding what?

  Ethical issues
• Who else had published work on phobias before Watson?

  Sigmund Freud
• According to Freud, what are phobias really?

  Defence mechanisms
• According to Freud, where are the secrets of phobias found?

  Within a person’s unconscious mind
• Where did Watson believe the cause of phobias lay?

  Outside the mind, in our environment
• What process did Watson believe could create and extinguish a phobia?

  Classical conditioning
• Prior to Watson, on what type of subjects was research into Classical Conditioning carried out?

  Animals
• What principles did Watson believe applied to human behaviour?

  Association and generalisation
• What type of behaviours did Watson try to study?

  Behaviours that can be filmed and measured
• Watson's approach is typical of what type of psychology?

  Behaviourist psychology
• If human beings are simply animals, how will we learn?

  Like other animals
• According to Watson, what isn't our behaviour an expression of?

  A “soul”
• What was the aim of Watson & Rayner's study?

  To find out if classical conditioning works
• What specific response did they aim to condition in a baby?

  A fear response
• What else did they want to see if the fear response would do?

  Be generalised
• What was the first independent variable (IV) in the study?

  Before-conditioning compared to after-conditioning
• What was the second independent variable (IV) in the study?

  Being presented with the white rat compared
• What type of experimental design was used in the study?

  Repeated Measures design
• What does "Repeated Measures design" mean in this context?

  Albert experiences every condition
• What was the dependent variable (DV) in the study?

  The number of fearful behaviours
• What is significant about the phrase "Fearful behaviours" in this study?

  Watson observes behaviour, not fear itself
• How old was Albert B at the start of the study?

  9 months
• How old was Albert B when the conditioning began?

  11 months
• Who was Albert's mother?

  A wet nurse at the hospital
• Why was Albert chosen for the study?

  He seemed healthy and quite fearless
• How much was Albert's mother paid for participating?

  $1