Little Albert Experiment - A level psychology

Emotional Tests

To test Alberts responses to certain objects he was confronted with a white rat, rabbit, dog, a monkey and cotton.

Session 1: Establishing a conditioned emotional response

11 months 3 days, Albert was bought into the lab again. A white rat was presented and just as he reached out a steel bar was struck behind his head

Session 2: Testing the conditioned emotional response

A week later, Albert returned for more testing. 11 months 10 days old. He was shown the rat with no loud noise to see if the previous experiment had effected him in anyway.
After this he was exposed 5 times to joint stimulation.
He reached out carefully and withdrew when the rat touched his hands.
When he was shown the rat he began to cry and crawl away.

Session 3: Generalisation

At 11 months 15 days Albert returned for further testing. The research question at this time was whether the learned link between rat and noise would be generalised to other objects.
Albert was variously presented with the rat, wooden blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a seal fur coat, cotton wool and John Watson's hair.

Session 4: Changing the environment

at 11 months, 20 days, Albert's conditioned emotional response was freshened up using joint stimulation.
He was then moved to a large, well-lit lecture theatre where he was placed on a table in the centre of the room.
He was presented with the rat and his responses were less extreme than before.

Session 5: effect of time

at 12 months and 21 days, Albert was tested for one last time. They involved a santa claus mask, dog, rabbit, fur coat and the wooden blocks (his happy place)
He responded to the test objects in a different way to the other objects. His reactions weren't as severe. Occasionally he wimpered/cried.