Albert is a nine month old boy who was subject to emotional testing. He went through a series of pretesting and was eventually introduced to a white rat. Albert initially had no fear of the rat but every time he would reach out to touch it he heard the sound of a hammer hitting a steel bar. The tests eventually led to the following results: First they introduced the banging of the steel bar (unconditioned stimuli) causing fear (unconditioned response) in Albert. They then introduced a white rat to Albert who initially had no fear of the rat. Every time Albert reached out to touch the rat the loud banging was heard, which eventually resulted in Albert being afraid to touch the rat. Finally they introduced just the rat (conditioned stimulus) without the loud banging still caused fear (conditioned response) in Albert.…
John B. Watson famous “Little Alert Experiment” was best known as a case study showing and proving evidence of classical conditioning and also an example of stimulus generalization. It was carried out by John B. Watson and his graduate student, Rosalie Rayner, at Johns Hopkins University and its’ first findings were published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.…
Classical conditioning experiments have been performed on humans with a large degree of success. One of the most notable and most controversial classical conditioning experiments done on humans was Watson’s “Little Albert” experiment. This experiment was conducted to test the fear response in humans. The experiment started off by introducing Albert to several animals, a white rat, monkey, bunny and a dog (Creelan). When Albert started to play with the rat, Watson banged a hammer on a metal pipe scaring Albert causing him to cry. Over time the sight of the rat without the banging of the hammer caused Albert to cry. Albert associated the loud scary noise to touching the rat, thus being successfully conditioned to fear the rat. By today’s standards, this experiment would never be allowed due to the ethical standards set forth by the American Psychological Association…
Leading on from this, Thorndike (1911) described ‘the law of effect’, suggesting that behaviour is more likely to be repeated if it produces a favourable response to the environment. He demonstrated this by conducting an experiment by which a cat was placed within a box. The cat could escape from the box by pressing a lever; once the cat discovered this, the cat was quicker to elicit the response and escape to a favourable environment. In 1913, Watson defined behaviourism as a science which focused on the nature of behaviour, with no scientific experimentation related to introspective stimuli. Watson’s methodological behaviourism focused on experiments where environmental stimulus elicited a response. He concluded that there was “no dividing line between the man and the brute” (Watson, 1913), rejecting the idea of the private behaviour. Jones (1915) agreed with Watson, stating that psychology needed to focus on observable phenomena in order to be considered a science, and “turn its back on all private data”. Skinner (1938) expanded behaviourism to distinguish respondent conditioning, the Pavlovian stimulus-response based, and operant conditioning, which focused on Thorndike’s favourable reoccurrence.…
a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Pavlov conducted his experiment by using mammals, he observed the digestive process in dogs and the relation between salvia and food. His study was extremely influential in establishing triggers (conditioned responses) that stimulated the salvia when feeding the dogs. He came to realize that the dogs began to salivate not only when they saw food but when they saw the scientist in lab coats. The dogs associated food to the white lab coats which triggered the salvation. He also conducted an experiment with the use of a bell. He would ring a bell when it was time to eat and subsequently the same conditioned responses were stimulated and the dogs reacted in the same manner as in the lab coat experiment. His developments influenced American psychologist John Watsons experiment on a nine month old baby named Albert. He wanted to prove that classic conditioning work on humans…
There have been several classic experiments to study and describe classical conditioning; one of the more famous is the Little Albert experiment. Over the years, the experiment has lost some of its validity due to numerous interpretations by several introductory psychology textbooks. It is, therefore, beneficial to go back to the original (or primary) source and read what the authors of the experiment themselves had to say.…
mid 1900s two doctors arose with a new level of Dr. Pavlov’s experiments, Psychologist John Watson and B. F. Skinner sought to explain behavior without resorting to such…
For example, the little Albert experiment which was carried out by Watson and Rayner, where they conditioned an infant boy, which they called Albert B also known as little Albert, to fear a white rat. This experiment was the first ever study within psychology that proved classical conditioning can transpire within humans not just within animals.…
This approach involves the use of animals. This is one of the strength of this theory as it has the scientific background and knowledge because there has been other scientific study to prove the experiment. Watson used rats in order for his theory while little Albert was used to test phobias and fears, so in this case the theory was useful. On the other hand it could also be a weakness because humans and animals do not behave in the same way as humans are more intelligent and we are also educated about what is around us. The nature in this perspective is missing because we do not inherit phobias or fears and instead we learn them, although the nurture debate in this theory was present because with Little Albert theory at the end he became aware of those phobias and he felt scared and it is the same for the rats as they came out of the box to get the food. The advantage of this behavioural model is that it the reason why a person may experience psychological…
Raynor & Watson carried out a controversial experiment in 1920 using classical conditioning to try and understand the origins of different fears and phobias. They observed the behaviour of a boy named Albert and found that he took a liking to a white rat and did not demonstrate any fear when subjected to the rat; the only thing that he expressed any fear of was a loud noise which would make him cry. They combined the loud noise with the rat which he later developed a phobia of. Both experiments demonstrate the effects of classical conditioning.…
In 1898, Edward Thorndike accentuated the strengths and weaknesses of stimulus-response connections with the introduction of the theory of learning. The premise of Thorndike’s research implied that rewards and punishment have distinct yet an equal impact on human behaviors. However, one of the more well-known learning theorists in modern times is B.F. Skinner, who shares comparable behavioral observation as Thorndike, in that behaviors are learned as a consequence of actions. Further testing of this theory, Skinner developed the prominently distinguished Skinner box, which observed animal training and behaviors. Initially, the Skinner box was used to detect the behaviors of rats. A metal bar is positioned in an area of the experimental…
Using an eight-month old little boy named Albert;Watson hit a steel rod and got a fearful reaction from Little Albert. Every time the rod was struck they would show him a white rat. After just seven times of striking the rod and showing him the rat, they were able to just show Albert the white rat and get a fearful response. Albert also showed a generalization of his conditioned response by reacting fearfully to other white furry items (Meyer, 2001). With the results of this experiment, Watson concluded that adult fears and phobias must be simple conditioned responses that we established when we were very young and they have stayed with us throughout our…
Watson defined behaviourism as “a natural science that takes the whole field of human adjustments as its own. It is the business of behaviouristic psychology to predict and control human activity” (Watson J, 2009). There are three different aspects to the perspective of behaviourism, classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning theory. Classical conditioning refers to an individual or animal learning through association. Research was carried out in 1909 by Ivan Pavlov. When he experimented on his dogs, they were offered food and saliva production increased. He also noticed something particularly interesting, salivation increased as the researcher opened the door to bring them the food. The dogs had now learnt the link between the door and their reflex response of salivation .Pavlov then added a bell into the equation, every time he fed the dogs he rung the bell, eventually the dogs would salivate to just the sound of the bell ringing. Pavlov had demonstrated classical conditioning through association (Eysenck, 2005).…
Douglas Sirk’ s All That Heaven Allows(1955) is a romantic film about how a wealthy widow defy social norms and commit to love with a young landscape designer. A vital scene in the film, and in Cary Scott (Jane Wyman)’s increasing sadness, takes place after Cary breaks off the marriage with Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson) as her children threaten to abandon her. Cary separates with Ron and lives alone. Following the lonely Christmas Eve Cary has, Cary is trying to celebrate a happy Christmas with her children. Soon she discovers that her own children are going to leave the family home. All her sacrifices are so pointless. In the Life's Parade at your Fingertips scene, Sirk brilliantly employs cinematography, camera movement, mise-an-scène and sound to highlight Cary’s growing sadness. By the end of the scene, Cary appears completely sorrowful and lost.…
If you like the thrill and adrenaline of speed and being out on the open waters than boat racing might be a career, hobby or sport for you. The American Power Boat Association (APBA) is a well known organization to join in order to have access to knowledge, they offer 16 different racing regions throughout the USA. When you race with the APBA you can take different classes for you're racing needs and likes with categories such as inboard engine vs outboard engines or hydroplane vs. runabout. If antique or classic boats are your idea join a class in vintage boats, whatever your passion is there is a class for you. If you are ready to participate in the races join you local club in your area and connect with other boat racers both experienced and new, the clubs meet once a month and discuss various topics and upcoming…