1b. Watson & Rayner

Introspection (background)

• Behaviour is understood by looking within

• Process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts or emotions

• Intrerested in the structure of the mind

Criticisms of introspection (background)

• Mental processes may not be able to be reliably reported

• It amy be subject to bias or recall error

• Thoughts may not all be avilable to conscious awareness

Psychodynamic approaches (background)

• We are motivated by unconscious instincts and repressed conflicts

• Emotion is generated internally through biological and instinctual processes

Psychoanalysis (background)

Study of psychological forces that underlie human behaviour → focuses on early experiences

Behaviourism (background)

• Psychology is the study of observable behaviours

• Interested in the connection between environment and behaviour (environment = stimulus / behaviour = response)

• If they are repeated these responses (i.e.) behavours may generalise

Classical conditioning (background)

Learning by association & conditioning reflexes

Operant conditioning (background)

Learning by punishment & reinforcement

Early thinking: Watson & Morgan

• Emotional reactions in infancy = innate

• E.g. fear, love, rage

• Fear → elicited in specific situations

• E.g., dropping the child

4 key questions Watson & Rayner wanted to answer

1. Can an infant be conditioned to fear an animal

2. Would such fear transfer to other animals or inanimate objects

3. How long world such fears persist

4. How can persistent fears be removed

Who was the participant

Litlle Albert → son of hospital workers = “stolid and unemotional”

Testing the neutral stimulus (step 1)

• Albert = 9 months old

• Albert plays with animals/objects

• No fear/crying

Testing the unconditioned stimulus (step 2)

• Stimulus → loudly striking a steel bar with a hammer just behind Albert’ head

• Reaction → on the third strike he broke into a sudden crying fit - interpreted as a fear response

Initial conditioning trials (step 3)

• Stimulus → a white rat is suddenly taken from the basket and presented to Albert

• Conditioning → as his hand touched the animal, the steel bar was struck immediately behind his head with a hammer

• Response → the infant jumped violently and fell forward, burying his head in the mattress - but no crying. As he reached for the rat again, the bar was struck again. The infant jumped violently again, fell forward and began to whimper

More conditioning (step 4)

• Albert was presented with the rat and made tentative advances

• There were then 4x NS/UCS pairings (i.e., rat + sound)

• The rat was presented alone → Albert began to cry

Generalisation

The tendency of a new stimulus to evoke responses or behaviours similar to those elicited by another stimulus (stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus produce conditioned responses)

Testing for generalisation

• Several stimuli

• Differ time points → 5 days post experiment / one month after

First test of generalisation (step 5)

• Albert → 11 months 15 days

• Rat alone → established CR occurs

• Rabbit alone → negative responses began at once

• Dog alone → Albert tries to get away and cries

• Fur coat → withdraws and begins to cry

• Cotton wool → withdraws hand from cotton wool but does not cry

Second test of generalisation (step 6)

• Albert → 11 month 20 days

• Rat alone → response was reduced, another NS/UCS pairing was done

• Rabbit & dog alone → dog barked 3 times unexpectedly which produced a marked fear response in Albert

• Wooden blocks → Albert played happily with them in between conditioning trials, so the negative reactions were specific to the conditioned stimuli

Third test of generalisation (step 7)

• Albert → 12 months 21 days

• Fur coat, rabbit and dog all produced negative reactions including crying (however, with a loss in the intensity of the reaction)

Habituation

Decline in responsiveness to stimuli once they become familiar

Re-conditioning

Adding a positive stimuli when the conditioned stimuli appear, e.g. giving candy to child when object of fear is presented

Imitation of positive responses

Modelling - building up constructive activities around the object e.g. parents playing with object of fear

Nature VS nurture debate

• Nature = behaviour is explained by hereditary factors + pre-programmed for certain behaviours

• Nurture = behaviour is the result of the environment + social influences, experiences, etc lead to behaviour

Equipotentiality

Any stimulus can become a conditioned stimulus if associated with an UCR

Extinction

If CS is presented without UCS then CR will diminish over time

Equipotentiality VS extinction

• Equipotentiality = mixed findings in literature → renewal effect, reinstatement effect (Field 2006)

• Extinction = some stimuli more feared than others → snakes/rats vs flowers/rabbits + Seligman (1971) some stimuli more evolutionary prepared

Ethical issues

• Treatment of little Albert

• Persistence of emotional conditioning

Scientific issues

• Generalisation - single case study

• Replication

• Subjective accounts

• Assessment of emotional responses

• Choice of stimuli

• Pre (baseline) + intervention - no control or comparitive experimental condition

Impact on psychology

Led to B.F. Skinner investigating operant conditioning and making behaviourism the dominant theoretical force until the 1960s

Impact on treatment

• Phobia as a conditioned emotional response → learned in infancy and learned from observing others (social learning)

• Treatments like flooding and other behavioural-based treatments developed

• Triple P program