Watson and Rayner (1920)

• Watson and Rayner (1920) - conditioned emotional reactions
• The aim of the study was to demonstrate if simple emotional reactions such as fear can be acquired through classical conditioning.
• A metal bar was used to make loud noise when the rat appeared which made little albert cry.
• To test Alberts baseline responses he was presented with various objects one at a time. He showed no fear towards them.
• Alberts response to the metal bar being struck with a hammer was to cry and showed fear.
• Session one - Albert was taken to a lab. Whenever he reached toward the white rat he was presented with the bar was struck loudly behind him.
• Session two - He was exposed five times to the paired noise and rat.
• Session three - Alberts response to the rat and other objects was tested. Albert showed a generalized fear to anything white and fluffy.
• Session four - Albert was taken to a lecture room and was tested again for responses. This was to make sure the room did not have an effect on his responses.
• Session five - Albert was tested again one month after the initial conditioning. He still showed fear toward the white rat.
• After further conditioning Albert began to cry and rapidly crawl away.
• He reacted to any white and fury objects with fear
• The conditioned response to the white rat was the crying and fear
• The neutral stimulus was the rat which then became the conditioned stimulus.
• The unconditioned response was Alberts natural response to the loud noise of the hammer striking the bar.
• Just two sessions pairing an unconditioned fear stimulus (loud noise) and neutral stimulus (rat) were enough to produce a fear response (conditioned response) towards rats and similar objects.
• Stimulus generalization is the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses to similar stimuli