little albert phobias

• watson and rayner 1920
• little albert was a 11 month old child
• aimed to test whether humans acquire phobias through classical conditioning
• little albert was repeatedly presented with a white rat
• the white rat at first was a neutral stimulus and little albert showed no response
• little albert was then presented with a loud noise (ucs) where he showed a fear response (ucr)
• the rat (ns) was then presented with the loud noise (ucr) where albert showed a fear response (ucr)
• whenever he was then presented with the rat (cs) he would show a fear response (cr)
• he associated the loud noise with the white rat
• he acquired a phobia through classical conditioning