The Little Albert Experiment Corrin, Erica, Millie, Patrick
John B. Watson (assisted by Rosalie Rayner) Watson was born January 9 th, 1878 and grew up in South Carolina. Though he thought of himself as a poor student, he enrolled at Furman University at age 16. He graduated 5 years later, and earned his PhD. In psychology in He began teaching psychology at John Hopkins University in 1908.
Purpose To show that you can teach the behavior of fear (using an infant as an example)
The Experiment Tested on a nine month old infant- Douglas Merritte Conducted in 1920 by Watson and Raynor Took a white rat (which the child had befriended) Conditioned the child to fear the rat Accomplished this by repeatedly pairing the rat with a loud, frightening sound.
Results Experiment was a success The child feared everything furry including Santa Claus and dogs Child was never deconditioned
Problems It is criticized by its design and lack of effort in its construction Raised ethical concerns Evidence has been shown that the child had neurological impairments at the time of the experiment Child was misrepresented as healthy and normal for experiment
Would we participate? Patrick- yes, if I were still a baby Millie- No, because I enjoy fluffy things Corrin- No, its rude and not accurate Erica- If I were tested on as an infant I wouldn’t have a choice