Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Classical Conditioning191The Famous Case of Little AlbertWatson’s interest in the role of classical conditioning in emotions set the stage forone of the most famous and controversial experiments in the history of psychology.In 1920, Watson and a graduate student named Rosalie Rayner set out to demonstratethat classical conditioning could be used to deliberately establish a conditionedemotional response in a human subject. Their subject was a baby, whom theycalled “Albert B.,” but who is now more popularly known as “Little Albert.” LittleAlbert lived with his mother in the Harriet Lane Hospital in Baltimore, where hismother was employed.Watson and Rayner (1920) first assessed Little Albert when he was only9 months old. Little Albert was a healthy, unusually calm baby who showed no fearwhen presented with a tame white rat, a rabbit, a dog, and a monkey. He was alsounafraid of cotton, masks, and even burning newspapers! But, as with other infantswhom Watson had studied, fear could be triggered in Little Albert by a sudden loudsound—clanging a steel bar behind his head. In this case, the sudden clanging noiseis the unconditioned stimulus, and the unconditioned response is fear.Two months after their initial assessment, Watson and Rayner attempted to conditionLittle Albert to fear the tame white rat (the conditioned stimulus). Watsonstood behind Little Albert. Whenever Little Albert reached toward the rat, Watsonclanged the steel bar with a hammer. Just as before, of course, the unexpected loudCLANG! (the unconditioned stimulus) startled and scared the daylights out ofLittle Albert (the unconditioned response).During the first conditioning session, Little Albert experienced two pairings ofthe white rat with the loud clanging sound. A week later, he experienced five morepairings of the two stimuli. After only these seven pairings of the loud noise and thewhite rat, the white rat alone triggered the conditioned response—extreme fear—inLittle Albert (see Figure 5.3). As Watson and Rayner (1920) described:The instant the rat was shown, the baby began to cry. Almost instantly he turned sharplyto the left, fell over on [his] left side, raised himself on all fours and began to crawl awayso rapidly that he was caught with difficulty before reaching the edge of the table.Before Conditioning:Neutral stimulus(white rat)Natural reflexNo fearFigure 5.3 A Classically ConditionedFear Response In the photograph below,Rosalie Rayner holds Little Albert as JohnWatson looks on. Little Albert is pettingthe tame white rat, clearly not afraid of it.But, after being repeatedly paired withthe UCS (a sudden, loud noise), the whiterat becomes a CS. After conditioning, LittleAlbert is terrified of the tame rat. His feargeneralized to other furry objects, includingrabbits, cotton, Rayner’s fur coat, andWatson in a Santa Claus beard.UCS(Steel bar hitwith a hammer)UCR (fear)During Conditioning:Neutral stimulus(white rat)+UCSNatural reflexUCR (fear)After Conditioning:Conditioned reflexNeutral stimulus(white rat)UCR (fear)