Theorists Learning

Little Albert (1920) Aim

to identify if human emotional responses are learned from environmental stimuli and provide evidence for classic conditioning

Little Albert Method

1 child, 9 months old

exposed child to stimuli: white rat, rabbit, monkey, masks, burning newspapers + observed the child’s reactions

When the child was exposed to the rat, loud noise with by hitting a metal pipe with a hammer.

repeated trials until the child cried upon seeing the rat, and then shown similar stimuli

monitored over a period of a month after, at the end of which the original procedure was repeated

Little Albert Findings

Stimulus Generalisation: started to fear not only the rat, but similar stimuli

10 days after the conditioning, the fear of rats was less marked which proved extinction, but after a month it was still present and could be renewed by repeating the original procedure

Little Albert Limitations

lack of generalisability as single participant increases bias

lack of informed consent as the mother did not know what the experiment would entail

relied on subjective measures to determine reactions

lack of protection from harm with intentional psychological harm and discomfort and lasting phobias created

Little Albert Contributions

proved that creation of a phobia is possible through classical conditioning

Pavlovs Dogs (1902) Aim

to study and demonstrate classical conditioning within dogs

Pavlovs Dogs Method

dogs placed in secluded environments, secured with harness with food bowl positioned before them and device used to gauge frequency of salivary gland secretions

various stimuli presented to them e.g. bell, food, both

representation of saliva secretions recorded on rotating drum

Pavlovs Dogs Findings

the dog develops a learned association between the metronome and the food + new behaviour is learned

neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus

Pavlovs Dogs Contributions

found out new information on the learning processes and found quantitative data allowing other researchers to replicate the study

advertisers can create associations with their products to create a particular response or feeling within the consumer

treatment of phobias and drug counselling

Pavlovs Dogs Limitations

cannot generalise the study to humans as is performed on different species

lack of protection from harm as dogs under physical harm as acid and ammonia was placed into their mouths, causing potential psychological harm as well

Thorndike (1898) Aim

to examine the influence re-enforcement has on the behaviour of cats seeking to escape from a puzzle box in order to reach food

Thorndike Method

13 cats

placed in a puzzle box and encouraged to escape with food placed outside

when the cats pressed a lever they could escape

cats were placed back into box when they escaped and experiment was repeated

Thorndike Findings

when they learned that the lever had favourable consequences (positive reinforcements) they became increasingly quick at pressing the lever (adopt the behaviour)

Thorndike Contributions

introduced the concept of reinforcement

idea of operant conditioning

Thorndike Limitations

is a simplified notion of learning that cannot be applied to the more complex cognitive processes held by humans

Skinner (1948) Aim

to demonstrate the process of operant conditioning in pigeons

Skinner Method

8 pigeons of increasing hunger levels placed into skinner box for a few minutes to a day

food presented at regular intervals (via hopper in opening in the cage wall lowered and in position for 5 seconds) regardless of pigeon behaviour

Skinner Results

6 out of 8 pigeons developed new behaviours

Rate of Reinforcement: shorter intervals between presentation of food had a quicker and more defined conditioning

Skinner Contributions

Skinner Limitations