Little Emotional Albert

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Little Emotional Albert

• Rachel Walterman, Jamie Clay, Jess Schweer,
  Candace Cornick

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Little Emotional Albert

• John B. Watson, Rosalie Raynor
• 1920
• Freuds psychoanalysis dominated psychology
• Watson sought to disprove that biological
  processes were the only explanation for emotions

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Little Emotional Albert

• Albert was an orphan and an only child
• Raised from birth in hospital environment
• Emotionally and physically healthy
• Happy baby

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Little Emotional Albert

• Watsons theory Emotional responses exist
  because humans have been conditioned to respond
  to stimuli in the environment
• We learn our emotions

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Little Emotional Albert

• Watsons goals
• Can we condition fear of an animal by striking a
  steel bar simultaneously?
• Can the conditioned emotion be transferred to
  other objects?
• What is the effect of time on conditioned
  responses?
• How can the conditioned response be removed
  (extinction)?

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Little Emotional Albert

• Method
• Albert was presented with stimuli to observe his
  reactions to them
• White rat, rabbit, dog, monkey, mask with and
  without hair, and white cotton wool
• Albert did not show any fear to any of the
  situations he was presented with

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Little Emotional Albert

• Tested reaction to loud noises by hammering a
  steel bar
• The noise startled him and he cried
• This is an unconditioned stimulus because the
  fear does not have to be learned

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Little Emotional Albert

• Conditioning began at age 11 months
• Albert was presented with the white rat and a
  loud noise simultaneously
• At first, Albert was interested in the rat and
  wanted to touch it, but as soon as he reached for
  it a metal bar was struck, causing him to be
  frightened

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Little Emotional Albert

• Process was repeated 3 times
• One week later, the same procedure was followed
• After 7 times, the rat was presented to Albert
  and he reacted with fear
• He cried, turned over and crawled away

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Little Emotional Albert

• Watson was curious if the behavior would transfer
  to other objects generalization
• The next week Albert was tested again and found
  to still be afraid of the rat
• Then, an object similar to the rat (a white
  rabbit) was presented to him
• Albert instantly showed signs of fear crying
  and crawling away

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Little Emotional Albert

• Albert was not afraid of the rabbit prior to the
  study
• He had generalized a stimulus
• He was then presented with a package of cotton, a
  fur coat, and a Santa Claus mask and reacted
  fearfully to each one

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Little Emotional Albert

• To increase the significance of the findings,
  Albert was tested in a different environment
• Albert was brought to a different hospital room
  with brighter light and more people present
• His reactions to the stimuli are presented in the
  following table

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Little Emotional Albert
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Little Emotional Albert

• Final Test
• To study if Alberts learned emotional responses
  would persist over time
• However, Albert was adopted and the tests were
  discontinued for 31 days
• He was brought back and tested with the same
  stimuli and continued to be fearful
• Researchers planned to recondition Albert of his
  fears, but he left the hospital on the day the
  tests were scheduled
• No reconditioning took place

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Little Emotional Albert

• Significant Findings
• Watsons theory can explain human emotions in
  simple terms
• Freud criticized as too complex to accurately
  explain behavior
• Emotional disturbances can not always be
  contributed to childhood trauma
• Phobias and sexual fetishes could be developed
  from similar conditioning

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Little Emotional Albert

• Discussion Questions
• Even though Watsons experiment was done in 1920,
  would you consider it ethical at that time?
• Do you think that such fears would have occurred
  naturally had Albert not been in the experiment?
• Do you think that the number of times Albert was
  conditioned affected his responses?

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Little Emotional Albert

• Do you think that the fact that Albert was raised
  in a hospital played a role in his reactions?
• Do you think that a fear learned during infancy
  could transfer to adulthood?
• Could this study be generalized among all
  children or was he just a spaz?
• How could the experiments effects be reversed?

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Little Albie

• Wheres Albert ????