Phobias - Watson & Rayner (1920)

PROCEDURE

Watson and Rayner subjected a child named 'Little Albert' to a variety of neutral stimuli at 9 months old, including live animals, masks and cotton. They also hit a steel bar, which produced a loud sound which caused him to cry. At 11 months, they offered Albert a white rat. When he reached out to stroke the rat, they hit the bar. This was repeated 7 times over 2 weeks.

RESULTS

The rat caused the same reaction as the bar being hit, which means it was now a conditioned stimulus. 5 days after conditioning, the phobia persisted and due to generalization, he also feared

• A rabbit
• A dog
• A sealskin coat
• Cotton
• A Santa Claus mask
• Watson's white hair

10 days after the initial conditioning, Albert still feared the rat, but it was less extreme.

1 month after the initial conditioning, only a mild of the rat was displayed. After this, Albert's mother withdrew him from the test.

CRITICISMS

 1 - The phobia was conditioned under artificial conditions

• This causes a lack of ecological validity 
• In a natural setting, variables may affect the conditioning
• This only proves that conditioning can occur in a laboratory setting
• This took more than one-trial, but phobias usually only require a singular experience

2 - Only one child was conditioned with a phobia in this study

• This is a small sample, so cannot be generalized
• It could be easier or harder for others to be conditioned, depending on factors such as age
• As only one phobia was developed, other phobias may be more difficult to form.

3 - There are a number of reasons why this study is highly unethical

• They didn't attempt to counter condition his phobia
• Some believe that the mother was not correctly informed, so informed consent wasn't given