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Molly Burns
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Edexcel A Level Psychology: Learning Theories Classic Study

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Molly Burns
Created by Molly Burns over 6 years ago
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Watson & Rayner (1928)ABOUTAIMTo find out if classical conditioning works onhumansDESIGNRepeated measures designDVThe number of fearful behaviours Albertshows when presented with the stimuliIV(1) Before conditioning compared to afterconditioning; (2) Being presented with the whiterat compared to being presented with other whitefluffy objectsSAMPLEOne baby boy, Albert, 9 months old.PROCEDUREPRE CONDITIONING TESTINGAlbert was 9 months old when his responses to numerous stimuliwere recorded, such as exposure to a white rat and the noise of asteel bar being struck by a hammer behind his head.Albert only showed a fear responseto the loud noise, making this anunconditioned stimulus as nolearning was requiredCONDITIONING TRIALSWhen Albert was 11 months old he was again given the white rat to play with butwhen Albert reached for the rat the steal bar was struck behind him.This process was repeated five times the nextweek and twice more 17 days later.FINDINGSBefore conditioning (age 9 months) Albert onlyshowed the fear response to the loud noisecreated by striking hammer against a metal barbehind his head. He showed no fear to all otherstimuli.fter the 1st trial Albert showed some distress, during the 2nd trialhe seemed suspicious of the rat and by the 3rd trial Albert leanedaway from the rat and when a rat was put next to him Albertstarted to cry.7 weeks later Albert cried in response to a numberof white furry stimuli including the fur collar of hismothers coat and a Santa Beard.CONCLUSIONPOST CONDITIONING TESTAfterwards theeffects were testedby showing Albert therat alone andmonitoring hisreaction.Watson & Rayner concluded that they had successfully conditioned Albert tofear the white rat and that his fear response generalised to other white, furrythingsEVALUATIONGENERALISABILITYThis was a study of one young child it lackspopulation validity as the findings cannotbe generalised to others.RELIABILITYThe study has high reliability as the use of standardisedprocedures allows for high control over all extraneousvariables. This makes it easy to replicateAPPLICATIONThis research has demonstrated that phobias can be learnt through theprocess of classical conditioning. Therefore, if we can understand howphobias do develop we can incorporate this into treatment of this form ofbehaviour.VALIDITYLacks ecological validity as it wasa lab experiment and the task isartificialETHICSThe study is clearly unethical. Watson & Rayner deliberately causeddistress to an infant and continued even though he was upsetAlso, they gave Albert a fear without knowledge that it could be reversedDouble click this nodeto edit the textClick and drag this buttonto create a new node