Watson and Rayner Evaluation

Question 1

Generalisability

Answer 1

Albert cannot generalise the whole population as he is a 9 month old baby. An older child or adult may react differently to how Albert reacted.
Albert was never exposed to fear and was surrounded in a hospital environment so therefore his results are unique to him.

Question 2

Reliability

Answer 2

High in reliability as the use of standardised procedures.

standardised procedure makes it possible to replicate the study.

Question 3

Application

Answer 3

Demonstrates that phobias can be learnt through the process of classical conditioning.

Question 4

Validity

Answer 4

Lack ecological validity so cannot be generalised to other settings outside the laboratory situation as the method used created an unnatural situation.

Question 5

Ethics

Answer 5

Many ethical concerns with this study.

cause harm to the participant.