ANXIETY watson and rayner (1920)

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

1 - determine whether fear response to a rat could be classically conditioned by pairing rat w loud noise

2 - determine whether conditioned fear would transfer/generalise to animals or objs similar to conditioned stimulus

3 - determine the effect of time on learned fears

4 - investigate how learned fears can be removed

Question 2

sample

Answer 2

albert B known as little albert
healthy typically calm
9 year old infant
lived in children’s hospital where mother worked as a nurse

Question 3

methodology

Answer 3

longitudinal case study
@ 9 months observed reactions to various stimulu
filmed
quali data recorded
no emo reaction to rabbit rat dog monket masks w and wo hair cotton wool burning newspaper
neutral stimuli

loud noise unconditioned stimulus hitting steel bar w hammer
albert startled lip tremble cried > unconditional response

11 months 3 days albert shown rat and hammer hit steel bar so he flinched and hid face and distressed whimper

11 months 10 days albert cautious of but not scared by rat
played w blocks
repeated rat + noise 5 times
after 3rd time albert whimpered when saw rat
after 2 more times crawled away when saw rat
given blocks after each trial to calm down

11 months 15 days albert shown rat rabbit dog fur coat cotton wool white hair on santa mask
fear shown to all 3 animals
dog less scary than rabbit
distressed by white fluffy items including watsons white hair but not other observers hair

11 months 20 days seemed less scared when shown rat
rat + noise again then returned
tested in diff room still scared of rat but less intense

12 months 21 days still scared of fluffy white stimuli and animals
mother withdrew consent and researchers didnt reverse his fear

Question 4

conclusions

Answer 4

possible to learn to fear prev neutral stimuli
many phobias are conditioned emotional reactions learned in childhood
either thru direct association of a neutral and unconditioned stimulus
or through transfer of fear to similar stimuli

Question 5

strength longitudinal

Answer 5

multiple occasions to observe
3 month period 9-12 mtnsh of age
collecting data @ multiple points so can observe fear decrease and increase over time

important bc observed 2 times, b4 and after conditioning
so might have missed important findings about learned fear

Question 7

strength qualitative data

Answer 7

detailed observations about behaviour
describing exactly what he did how and when with notes about bodily movement
facial expressions as well as attempts to self soothe ie thumb sucking
important bc individual children may display fear and efforts to self soothe in diff ways

Question 8

weakness lack ecological validity

Answer 8

lab setting albert studied in
environment became familiar to him over 3 months
but reactions may have been diff if observed in own home
childrens fear reactions probs more in unfamiliar environments
w people they dk
compared to familiar environment w parents/grandparents
findings lack eco validity

Question 9

weakness lack generalisability

Answer 9

case study
one child only
he may have been generally unemotional
possible he developed fears more readily than another child might have done
eg…alexander and wilcox 2012 provide a detailed review of sex diff in first year
female infant may have behaved diff
important bc findings shld be generalised w care to people of diff ages and genders