Little Emotional Albert

By: Monica Long-Davisand

DeAndra Rogers-Austin

Background

• Psychologist: J.B. Watson and R. Rayner• Hypothesis: Albert will eventually become

conditioned to be afraid of the rat• Study method: Experiment

Subjects and Experiment

• Albert B.: 9 months and an orphan • Procedure: to see if he would be afraid of

certain stimuli– UCS: Bell – UCR: Fear– NS: White rat– CS: Rat– CR: Fear

Experiment: 11 months

• Showed white rat and heard loud noise – Interested in rat but heard loud noise and got

startled– A week later: Presented w/ rat w/o noise– Tested again: still afraid– Test of (generalization) w/ white rabbit

• Convinced great portion of psychology community

• Watson’s findings could explain human behavior in straightforward and simple terms– Compared to notions of Freud and followers

Results/Findings and Criticism

• Study helped launch one of major schools of thought in psych

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBfnXACsOI