Behaviourist Classic Research

Question 1

Who were the researchers, when was it published and what was it called?

Answer 1

Watson and Rayner (1920) Conditioned emotional reactions

Question 2

What did Watson and Rayner use classical conditioning to do?

Answer 2

Condition a healthy baby to fear a natural stimulus (a white rat) by manipulating his environment

Question 3

What were the 4 key questions that Watson and Rayner wanted to investigate?

Answer 3

• Can fear of a previously neutral stimulus be conditioned by presenting it simultaneously with an established negative stimulus?
• Could this conditioned response be transferred to other animals or objects?
• Does this conditioned response change over time?
• If, after a reasonable period, the emotional responses have not died out, how could they be removed?

Question 4

What was the classical conditioning process of the baby? What was the UCS, UCR, NS, CS, and CR?

Answer 4

Loud noise (UCS) —-> Fear (UCR)
White rat (NS) —-> No response
Loud noise (UCS) + White rat (NS) —-> Fear (UCR)
White rat (CS) —-> Fear (CR)

Question 5

Who was the participant and why was he selected?

Answer 5

Little Albert. He was selected as he was healthy, emotionally stable and had a normal life.

Question 6

What is the method of the study best described as?

Answer 6

A controlled observation

Question 7

At what times in Little Albert’s life was he being tested as part of the study?

Answer 7

• 9 months
• 11 months 3 days
• 11 months 10 days
• 11 months 15 days
• 11 months 20 days
• 12 months 21 days

Question 8

What was the procedure of the Little Albert study at 9 months of age?

Answer 8

Watson and Rayner tested Little Albert’s reactions to a white rabbit, a dog, a monkey, a mask, cotton wool, and a burning newspaper, to test his reaction to them.

Question 9

What were the findings of the procedure at 9 months?

Answer 9

Albert showed no fear to any of the objects

Question 10

Where was the first three observations done?

Answer 10

In a controlled hospital environment at Johns Hopkins University

Question 11

What was the procedure of the Little Albert study at 11 months 3 days?

Answer 11

• White rat is presented
• As Albert reaches towards the rat, a metal bar is struck behind him, making a loud noise
• When Albert was going to reach for the rat again, the metal bar was struck again

Question 12

What were the findings of the Little Albert study at 11 months 3 days?

Answer 12

• The first time the bar was struck, he fell forward and buried his face in the mattress
• The second time the bar was struck he fell forward again and started whimpering

Question 13

What was the procedure of the Little Albert study at 11 months 10 days?

Answer 13

• Rat presented alone with no bar near Albert
• Blocks were given to him to play with as a distraction
• The rat was presented multiple times

Question 14

What were the findings of the Little Albert study at 11 months 10 days?

Answer 14

• When shown the rat, Albert fell and whimpered instantly
• He settles down when given the blocks
• When shown the rat repeatedly, he fell to the left, went on to all fours and crawled away

Question 15

What were the procedures of the Little Albert study at 11 months 15 days?

Answer 15

• Rabbit and dog presented alone with blocks in between
• Then a fur coat and cotton wool were shown alone
• Watson put his hair in front of Albert
• Then Watson put on a Santa Claus mask and presented it in front of Albert

Question 16

What were the findings of the Little Albert study at 11 months 15 days?

Answer 16

• Played with blocks
• Rat = fell over
• Rabbit = whimpered, cried
• Dog = turned head and began to cry
• Cotton wool = kicked away with feet
• Watson’s hair = ignored
• Santa Claus mask = reacted negatively

Question 17

What was the procedure of the Little Albert study at 11 months 20 days?

Answer 17

• Changed location to a large well lit lecture room
• The rabbit, rat and dog were presented alone
• The rat was presented and the metal bar was struck
• The rat was presented alone twice with the blocks given to him in between
• The rabbit and the dog were presented alone. The dog barked loudly

Question 18

What were the findings of the Little Albert study at 11 months 20 days?

Answer 18

• Rat = hands up, whimpered
• Rabbit = slight fear
• Dog = fell over when it barked
• Played with blocks
• Rat + bar = bent over crying

Question 19

What was the procedure of the Little Albert study at 12 months 21 days?

Answer 19

• Santa Claus mask presented
• Fur coat laid on Alberts lap
• Given the blocks to play with
• The rat was presented alone and placed on his arm and chest
• The rabbit was placed on his lap and his hand was put on the rabbit
• The dog was presented and pushed further towards him

Question 20

What were the findings of the Little Albert study at 12 months 21 days?

Answer 20

• Santa Claus mask = whimpered/cried
• Fur coat = withdrew body
• Rat = leaned back, covered eyes
• Rabbit = shuddered
• Dog = cried with both hands over his face

Question 21

What was an incidental finding of the Little Albert study?

Answer 21

Noticed Albert sucked his thumb when on the verge of tears. Concluded it was a compensatory device for blocking fear.

Question 22

What was the conclusion of the first question that Watson and Rayner wanted to find out, Can fear of a previously neutral stimulus be conditioned by presenting it simultaneously with an established negative stimulus?

Answer 22

Yes, when Albert was tested at 9 months, he had no fear towards any of the stimuli. However after the conditioning, fear responses were seen. So this question is proved to be true

Question 23

What was the conclusion of the second question that Watson and Rayner wanted to find out, Could the conditioned response be conditioned to other animals or objects?

Answer 23

Yes, the conditioned response continued when transferred to other objects and also in a different location

Question 24

What was the conclusion of the third question that Watson and Rayner wanted to find out, Does the conditioned response change over time?

Answer 24

The conditioned response continued after a period of one week. Even after a month, the response was still present and transferred to the other stimuli

Question 25

What was the conclusion of the fourth question that Watson and Rayner wanted to find out, If, after a reasonable period, the emotional responses have not died out, how might they be removed?

Answer 25

The opportunity to remove the conditioned response was denied as Albert left the hospital. However, it was likely that the response would persist indefinitely. If Watson and Rayner had the opportunity, they would have reconditioned Albert by feeding him sweets after the animal was shown

Question 26

How did Watson and Rayner ensure a high level of control in their experiment?

Answer 26

The observation when Albert was 9 months old proved he had no existing fear. The building blocks given proved that the reaction was only to furry objects. The observation was filmed so the findings can be observed by other people

Question 27

How may the ecological validity be affected by the high level of control?

Answer 27

They did research in a controlled environment so the results may be different if the experiment was done somewhere else

Question 28

What are the issues with the sample in the experiment?

Answer 28

- Only one participant so its hard to know whether the results can be generalised to other people

Question 29

What ethical guidelines of PCDRIP were breached in this experiment? (4)

Answer 29

- Informed consent - Protection from harm - Confidentiality - Right to withdraw

Question 30

How was the informed consent guideline breached in the experiment? (2)

Answer 30

- Albert's mother wasn't informed that her child was taking part in an experiment - Albert could not have given consent because he is too young

Question 31

How was the protection from harm ethical guideline breached in the experiment? (2)

Answer 31

- Albert experienced a lot more pain than what he would have experienced on a normal day - He developed a habit of sucking his thumb which Watson and Rayner repeatedly stopped him from doing which caused him stress

Question 32

How was the confidentiality ethical guideline breached in the experiment? (1)

Answer 32

Albert's real name was hidden however the location of the study was public, as well as his mother's job and his emotional stability, meaning he could have been identified

Question 33

How was the right to withdraw ethical guideline breached in the experiment? (2)

Answer 33

- Albert couldn't have exercised his right to withdraw since he couldn't speak - Albert's mother couldn't have withdrawn Albert as she didn't know that Albert was being experimented on

Question 34

What are the social implications the experiment had on education? (2)

Answer 34

- Showed that emotional responses can be conditioned - Designing classrooms to associate learning with positive emotions

Question 35

What are the social implications the experiment had on law? (2)

Answer 35

- Stronger laws on informed consent and protection from harm - Issue with juvenile crime as the defense could say that they were brought up to be this way

Question 36

What are the social implications the experiment had on health? (3)

Answer 36

- Allowed for therapies such as systematic desensitisation to be developed - Showed a need for early intervention in children - Participant welfare

Question 37

What are the social implications the experiment had on families? (2)

Answer 37

- The responsibility of a child's actions is solely on the parent - Issue of manipulation of children

Question 38

What are the social implications the experiment had on the workplace? (1)

Answer 38

- Having a positive workplace means that workers will be happier to work there and so they work better

Question 39

EQ - ‘Watson and Rayner’s research is considered by many today to be unethical and to have limited social implications.’ With reference to the statement, discuss the ethical issues and social implications of Watson and Rayner’s (1920) research ‘Conditioned emotional reactions’.

Answer 39

Ethical issues: - Use of a vulnerable participant (a baby). - Consent from the mother of Little Albert. - Consent was not necessarily informed. - Right to withdraw was given (the mother removed Little Albert from the research). - No counterconditioning took place (not necessarily the researchers’ fault because the mother removed Little Albert before counter conditioning could take place). __________________________________________________________ Social implications: - Links to education e.g. conditioned learning techniques, classroom environment of pleasant associations. - Links to families e.g. conditioning to shape the behaviour of children. - Links to work e.g. application to advertising, stress response through association. - Links to health e.g. cures for phobias, medical waiting rooms to have pleasant environments for positive associations. - Links to the law e.g. prevent smacking of children, use of aversion therapy for illegal behaviours.

Question 40

EQ - Evaluate Watson and Rayner’s (1920) research ‘Conditioned emotional reactions’ in relation to social implications and ethical issues. (8)

Answer 40

- Ethics of using vulnerable participants. - Psychological harm from inducing a phobia. - Informed consent from Little Albert’s mother. - Benefits for therapy e.g. systematic desensitisation. - Cost/benefit analysis of using one participant to benefit many. - Any other appropriate ethical issue or social implication evaluated.