Classic study - Watson and Rayner (1920) Flashcards
What was the aim of Watson & Rayner’s classic study?
To investigate if classical conditioning can be generalised to human behaviour and if stimulus generalisation occurs in humans
What were the IV and DV of Watson & Rayner’s classic study?
IV: behaviour of Little Albert in response to the white rat before and after conditioning
DV: the number of fearful behaviours displayed by Little Albert in response to the white rat
What was the methodology (type and design) of Watson & Rayner’s classic study? (2 points)
Type: Laboratory experiment/structured observation at a hospital
Design: Repeated measures design
In Watson and Rayner’s classic study, what method of sampling was used and who was the sample?
Sampling: Opportunity sampling - his mother was a nurse at a hospital and was paid to allow the child to participate
Sample: 1 male 9-month-old baby Little Albert - chosen for his healthiness and fearlessness
What was the procedure of Watson and Rayner’s classic study? (6 points)
Little Albert was presented with a range of animals and objects to test his fears and identify an NS - white rat was chosen as he was not scared of it
Little Albert was tested for an innate fear response by striking a hammer on a steel bar which caused him to cry
White rat (NS) was presented paired with the striking of a hammer and steel bar (UCS) 3 times a week for 2 weeks - conditioned at 11 months old
Little Albert was then presented with the white rat without the iron bar noise
A week later, Little Albert was tested for stimulus generalisation and was brought to a brighter room with more people present 5 days later
Brought Albert back 31 days later to see if his associations lasted through time
What were the results of Watson and Rayner’s classic study? (3 points)
After conditioning in 2nd week, Albert cried (CR) when presented with a white rat (NS -> CS)
Albert demonstrated stimulus generalisation in 3rd week - cried at similar stimuli like a rabbit, dog and someone wearing a Santa mask
Albert exhibited same behaviours towards rat and rabbit 5 days later in a lecture theatre with other people present - transferal of response to another setting
What was the conclusion of Watson and Rayner’s classic study? (3 points)
Fear response can be conditioned into humans using Classical Conditioning - supports generalisation of Pavlov’s research with dogs into humans
Stimulus generalisation and transferal of response observed in humans
Little Albert exhibited same conditioned response 31 days later - Watson proposed that his conditioning could last a lifetime
How generalisable is Watson & Raynor’s classic study? (4 points)
Lack of population validity - only one 11 month old baby Albert from the USA was used
The results are androcentric and ethnocentric, therefore not representative of the wider population of humans
Fridlund & Beck (2012) claim that Little Albert was a neurologically impaired child called Douglas Meritte who died from hydrocephalus at age 6
The study being done on an unhealthy child also limits its representation of how healthy children learn
How reliable is Watson & Raynor’s classic study? (3 points)
Reliable from its standardised procedure
Setting was controlled, only allowing the pairing of the loud noise whilst presenting the white rat, and each stage was copiously documented
Can be repeated easily - results of a fear response being conditioned in humans can be checked for consistency
How applicable is Watson & Raynor’s classic study? (4 points)
The conclusions have led to counter-conditioning phobia treatments such as flooding and systematic desensitisation
Flooding can be used which is where you can immerse someone in their fear
The body can’t maintain a high level of fear arousal due to energy constraints
Response will eventually subside and the person forms a new association of relaxation
How internally valid is Watson & Raynor’s classic study? (3 points)
High internal validity
Little Albert was tested before the conditioning, to make sure he did not have any pre-existing fears of white, furry objects
Cause (association of loud noise and rat) and effect (long-lasting fear response) is insured
How ecologically valid is Watson & Raynor’s classic study? (3 points)
Questionable ecological validity
Artificial, controlled laboratory environment was used - inapplicable to real-life
Stimulus-response of white rats and loud noise is not necessarily a combination that would be expected to confront, especially in the absence of any other stimulus-response e.g. other noises, sounds etc
How ethical is Watson & Raynor’s classic study? (4 points)
Study is deemed an unethical experiment
Despite getting consent from the mother, Little Albert was exposed to distress and psychological harm from being scared so much - repeatedly cried and tried to crawl away after hearing the loud noise
Phobia was not extinguished or counter-conditioned after the study - Little Albert left the study in a worsened psychological state than when he arrived
The long-time phobia may have caused him problems later in life
