Classics study Little Albert

Generalisability

AO1 – 1 boy, 9 months old, white, American 
AO3 – Poor generalisability as single participant, therefore not representative limits the ability to draw conclusions. Little Albert may also have had hydrocephalus at the time of the study, and this affected his reactions and development 

Reliability

AO1 – Procedure. Watson and Rayner had to establish a NS and an UCS/UCR. They then had to pair these repeatedly, until they were able to show that Albert had a fear response (CR) to what originally was the NS . [use of white mouse and banging metal bar behind his head to induce a fear response]
AO3 – Standardised procedure, allows repeatability as there is a clear description of methodology and order. The experiment was not finished, and extinction of the fear was not reached (as Albert’s mother drew him out of the experiment). However, vagueness surrounding the ‘fear response’ definition, as the amount Albert was crying is subjective, results could be open to researcher bias and therefore lack standardisation

Application

AO1 – Results. Albert exhibited a conditioned response of fear and crying when coming into contact with the white mouse (now a conditioned stimulus but previously unconditioned). Did establish a new phobia in a human child, as Little Albert exhibited a fear response in reaction to the white mouse 
AO3 – Positive application to society, as suggests that we can treat phobias. Systematic desensitisation and flooding treatments can be successful 

Validity

AO1 – Conclusion is that fear is a learned behaviour, and that anything that can be learned can also be unlearned 
AO3 – Lacks ecological validity as artificial task that is not representative of real-life experiences. Except, Albert lived in the hospital, so for him this was a normal environment, and he was familiar with the surroundings 

Ethics

AO1 – No protection from harm, no informed consent, no confidentiality, no debrief, no right to withdraw  
AO3 – However, none of these ethical guidelines existed in 1920, so technically no rules were broken