Watson and Rayner

• Watson conditioned a phobia response to furry white things in little Albert
• Watson first presented Albert with objects he was not afraid of 

  • objects that he initially liked 

  Objects were ; fire, monkey, dog, rabbit, and a white rat
• To start the conditioning a loud bar was was struck when Albert went to touch rat, 1st time he was startled but didn’t cry, 2nd time he did cry
• Watson conditioned a fear response in Albert
• Watson was then showed the rabbit, he cried and got as far away as possible 
• Then the dog, he did not cry immediately but only when dog went right up to his head
• Procedure: Watson & Raynor used a labartory experiment to test their theory. When Little Albert was about 9 months old, they presented him with a range of stimuli (e.g. a rabbit, monkey, burning newspaper white rat) and he showed no fear of any of them.When Little Albert was 11 months and three days old, the experimental procedure began. white rat was presented to Albert. He began to reach for it but Just as his hand touched the animal the steel bar was struck immediately behind his head. The infant jumped violently and fell forward, burying his face in the mattress, showing fear reaction
• 5 trials were conducted and after the fifth trial the white rabbit was presented alone and little Albert showed a conditioNed response by crying
• Watson & Raynor then tested his response to other items such as a rabbit, a fur coat and a santa Claus mask . He showed a fear response to all of these items. Therefore his phobia had generalised onto other objects. Little Albert was removed from the study before Watson & Raynor had the opportunity to removed the conditioned emotional response.
• Conclusion: Watson & Raynor were able to create a phobia in a child which persisted for more than a month. They believed that the phobia was ‘likely to persist indefinitely