conditioned emotional reactions
DESCRIPTION
Conditioned emotional reactions. Watson & Rayner , 1920. aims. To investigate whether it is possible to condition a fear of an animal in a baby To see whether that fear would be transferred to other animals and objects . ?. Aims. ?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
CONDITIONED EMOTIONAL REACTIONSWatson & Rayner, 1920
AIMS
1. To investigate whether it is possible to condition a fear of an animal in a baby
2. To see whether that fear would be transferred to other animals and objects
?
AIMS3. To investigate the effect of time on such
conditioned emotional responses
4. If the responses do not extinguish themselves, then to investigate what laboratory methods can be devised for their removal
?
PARTICIPANT
Little Albert aged 9 months - 1 year 21 days Mother a wet nurse at the Harriet Lane Home
for Invalid Children This was where Albert had been raised Albert ‘normal’ Stolid and unemotional
“No one had ever seen him in a state of fear
or rage.”
“The infant practically never cried.”
“We felt we could do him relatively
little harm by carrying out
experiments such as those outlined
below...”
PROCEDUREMethod Single case study conducted under
laboratory conditions Using observational techniques to record
data
PROCEDUREApprox 9 months Little Albert was shown a series of stimuli
White rat Rabbit Dog Monkey Masks Cotton wool Burning newspapers
At NO time did Little Albert show any fear
Neutral stimuli
PROCEDURE8 months & 26 days1. A steel bar was struck with a sharp blow
behind Albert’s head Albert showed ‘startled reaction’
2. The steel bar was struck again Albert again showed a ‘startled reaction &
his lips puckered and trembled
3. The steel bar was struck for the third time Albert started crying Unconditioned
response
Unconditioned stimulus
PROCEDUREEstablishment of conditioned emotional responses 11 months and three days A white rat was taken from a basket
and presented to Albert Just as he reached for the rat the steel
bar was struck behind his head Little Albert showed a fear reaction by
jumping violently and falling forward
PROCEDURE 11 months 10 days 1. The rat was presented without the steel
bar and Albert was hesitant to touch the animal
This shows the procedure that was performed the previous week had had some effect...
Then the experimental procedure began again...
2. The rat and steel bar were presented together
Little Albert ‘started’ and fell over
PROCEDURE 3. Joint stimulation again. Albert fell over
again and turn away from the rat 4. Joint stimulation – same reaction 5. Rat presented alone – Albert whimpers and
withdraws his body 6. Joint stimulation. Albert fell over again and
started to whimper 7. Joint stimulation. Albert started violently
and cried!
PROCEDURE
8. Rat presented alone – Albert cries and crawls away so quickly that he almost falls off the table
Conditioned emotional responseConditioned stimulus
It takes seven joint stimulation trials in all to make Little
Albert cry and establish the fear response!
PROCEDURE TESTING AIM 2 – WILL ALBERT'S FEAR RESPONSE GENERALISE TO OTHER OBJECTS? 11 months 15 days 1. Albert is shown the rat again and shows a
fear response 2. Albert is then shown a rabbit. He show a
fear response by whimpering then bursting into tears and buried his head in the mattress then crawled off crying
PROCEDURE
Little Albert shows a similar fear response to: Fur coat Cotton wool Santa mask A dog
PROCEDURE TESTING AIM 3 – THE EFFECT OF TIME ON CONDITIONED EMOTIONAL RESPONSES No further conditioning experimentation was
conducted on Little Albert for 31 days
One Year 21 days Little Albert was presented with
The Santa mask The Fur Coat The Rat The Dog
He showed a fear response to all of them
“These experiments seem to show
conclusively that directly conditioned emotional responses
as well as those conditioned by
transfer, persist”
“Our view is that these responses in the home environment are likely to persist indefinitely”