learning: issues and debates

• Watson and Rayner's research was conducted out before ethical guidelines were developed
• If the current ethical guidelines are applied to Little Albert's study there are shortcomings with this research
• The study would not be considered to be ECAL since Little Albert prior to the experiment was not easily frightened, but throughout the experiment became more fearful of many other situations as well
• Watson and Rayner did not fully protect Little Albert from psychological harm
• The research


  • It was an experimental case study and therefore only focused on one individual-Little Albert
  • The results are not GENERALISABLE to a wider population
  • It was completed in a laboratory setting and this therefore means was not representative of a natural environment and therefore lacked ecological validity
• Reductionism applies to the learning theories since the theories reduce behaviour down to one cause
• Watson and Rayner's study applies classical conditioning principles to explaining how a fear response is learnt in children
• Little Albert's behaviour is created through the paired association on the conditioned stimulus to the conditioned response, thus reducing a phobic explanation only to the pairing of two stimuli
• This therefore ignores other factors such as cognitive or social factors that could contribute to these behaviours
• Watson and Rayner's study focuses upon the application of classical conditioning and how it explains phobias occurring through the pairing of the unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimulus together to develop a conditioned response
• This also links to the treatment section of phobias as to how psychologists can break the learnt association between the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response to recondition a phobia and thus treat an individual who has a phobia
• Watson and Rayner's study was another ground-breaking study
• It indicated through scientific testing in laboratory conditions that fear responses can be learnt
• There were strict controls which were used and only one variable was changed at one time, this in turn increases the VALIDITY of the study
• An example of the controls used by Watson and Rayner were the use of the blocks and this allowed for Watson and Rayner to make comparisons between Little Albert's fear responses accurately
• Little Albert was a baby boy and his mother was a wet nurse
• This indicates that there are issues that relate to the psychological research
• Nurture-Watson and Rayner's study supports the nurture side of the debate since it believes that all individuals are born as a blank slate (tabula rasa) and every experience teaches an individual a new behaviour which in turn shapes and forms who they are
• Therefore Little Albert's phobia was only caused by the experiences he was exposed to by Watson and Rayner
• Watson and Rayner's study is one of the most influential pieces of psychological research in explaining phobias
• The research is still relevant today and it continues to be the basis of psychological understanding
• Cognitive behavioural therapy


  The most effective form of treatment to treat anxiety conditions
• The use of psychology in social control

  1. The findings from Watson and Rayner indicated that fear could be learnt

  2. This led to the understanding that it could also be unlearnt

  3. Systematic desensitisation was formally developed
• Through systematic desensitisation therapy


  • A therapist would have responsibility of power over another person
  • They can dictate the speed to which the exposure occurs
  • They have to contain the anxiety of the individual in therapy
• This could be deemed as controlling in this situation
• Watson and Rayner's study

  • It had a huge impact on the psychological industry due to the scientific rigour of this experiment
  • It provides an explanation as to how a behaviour is learnt
  • It determined that a behaviour can be learnt, it can therefore also be unlearnt through treatments
  • This finding is the foundation and basis for the most effective way to treat anxiety difficulties through cognitive behavioural therapy
• Watson & Rayner's research could be seen as socially sensitive as it proposes that a phobia or fear of an object can be learnt
• This fear/phobia can be generalised to other stimuli which can increase the phobia
• As Little Albert's fear was induced this could be seen as brainwashing
• watson and raynor support psychology as a science as they have high validity due to use of controls( use of blocks) which allowed comparisons between albert and fear responses accurately
• Harmful behaviour to animals


  • Skinner electrified rats
  • Pavlov restricted food (to an extent)
  • Watson + Rayner deliberately distressed Little Albert (who was never debriefed/desensitised)
  • Bandura caused distress and frustrated children by exposing them to aggressive models
• Learning cannot generalise findings from animals to humans as animals don't have self-awareness like humans do
• Humans have self-awareness so show demand characteristics
• Behaviourists (like Skinner) are happy to explain all behaviour as an outcome of previous learning and we behave the way we do due to the sum of our experiences
• Classical and operant conditioning


  Explain behaviour as due to stimulus-response connections, which are basic units used to explain complex behaviour
• Bandura takes into account both behavioural and cognitive factors in observational learning and imitation
• Phobias


  Can be explained in many different ways including learning theories, biology, psychodynamic and cognitive approaches
• Usually can explain a behaviour with all the learning theories so should consider which is the most appropriate
• Behaviourists use testable hypotheses, collect empirical data and use objective methods
• Learning theories are based on nurture so different cultures will have different experiences that affect development, and specific behaviours deemed acceptable will be reinforced