watson and rayner (little albert)

Background

John B Watson

• grew up in poverty, troubled youth

• PHD in psychology → professor at John Hopkins

• fired in 1920 after affair with student (Rosalie Rayner → wife)

• had a successful career in advertising

context of psychology

• dominated by Wundt (introspection) and Freud (psychodynamics)

• behaviour understood as internal, unconscious and instinctual

Watsons radical behaviourism

• proposed psychology should only focus on observable behaviour

• ‘theoretical goal is prediction and control of behaviour)

influence of Pavlov

• pavlovs classical conditioning (eg dog salivating to bell)

• conditioning is learned, not instinctual

• introduced the idea of conditioned reflexes

The study: Little Albert

Research questions

1. can infants be conditioned to fear an animal

2. will fear generalise to other objects

3. how long will the fear persist?

participant

• ‘albert B.’ infant raised in hospital

• described as emotionally stable

Procedures

1. pre testing (age - 9 months)

   • no fear of white rat or other objects

2. unconditioned stimulus (UCS) test

   • loud steel bar struck = fear response (crying)

3. conditioning trials (age: 11 months)

   • rat paired w loud noise

   • albert jumped, whimpered, later cried when seeing rat

4. repeated pairings

   • 4 pairings of rat and noise

   • results: immediate fear (crying, crawling away)

generalisation tests

objects tested:

• rabbit, dog, fur coat - caused fear

• cotton wool - hesitation but no crying

• wooden blocks - no fear (control)

conclusion: fear generalised to similar furry objects and animals

persistence of fear

• a month later, Albert still feared the stimulus, though reactions were slightly weaker

• Watson and Rayner believed conditioned fear could persist and shape personality

suggested removal methods:

• habituation

• re-conditioning

• imitating positive responses

debate and controversy

nature vs nurture

• watson: all behaviour is learned, not inherited

• famous quote ‘give me a dozen healthy infants… i’ll guarantee to train any one of them to become any type of specialist’

ethical issues

• no informed consent

• psychological harm to infant

• no attempt to de-condition Albert

• single-case design

• subjective interpretation of fear

• limited generalisability

specific concerns

• lack of replication

• emotional response attempts were subjective

• stimuli choices and procedures may lack rigour

impact and legacy

behaviourisms rise

• b.f. skinner developed operant conditioning

• behaviourism became dominant in psychology

applications

• phobias understood as learned responses

  • treated w techniques like flooding

• parenting: influenced evidence-based programmes (eg Triple P)

• marketing: Watson applied conditioning to advertising (coffee break)

enduring influence

• Watson and Rayners study still widely cited

• behaviourist ideas persist in therapy, education and advertising

• reinterpreted through modern theories like preparedness (Seligman) and systemic desensitization (Wolfe)