Describe procedures of Watson and Rayner (10)

• Para 1: emotional tests

  Watson and Rayner (1920) used a carefully staged procedure to condition an emotional response in an infant named Little Albert. They first conducted emotional tests by presenting Albert with various objects such as a white rat, rabbit, dog, monkey, and masks to record his natural, unconditioned reactions - he showed no fear. They also tested his reaction to a loud sound (a steel bar struck behind his head), which naturally caused distress. These baselines tests allowed the researchers to ensure Albert had no pre-existing fear of the stimuli used later in conditioning.
• Para 2: Sessions 1-3

  The main conditioning took place across several sessions, with precise control. in session 1, when Albert was 11 months 3 days old, the white rat was presented and paired with the loud noise - this was repeated to establish a conditioned response. In session 2, a week later, Albert was shown the rat without the sound to test for fear learning. Then, they reinforced the association by pairing the rat and noise 5 more times. In session 3, the researchers tested generalisation: Albert was shown other furry objects (e.g. Rabbit, dog, fur coat), and he showed fear responses, suggesting the conditioning extended beyond just the rat.
• Para 3: sessions 4-5

  Further sessions explored the role of the environment and time in the conditioned response. In session 4, the conditioned response was “freshened” and then tested in a new setting - a brightly lit lecture room - to examine whether fear would still occur outside the original environment. Finally, in session 5, they assessed the persistence of the conditioned response after a delay (at 12 months and 21 days). Albert continued to show fear to the rat and similar stimuli, suggesting that conditioned emotional responses could endure over time, even without further reinforcement.