Kelly Carl- Clayton

PSYCHOLOGY
2/25/2015
LITTLE EMOTIONAL ALBERT
Have you ever wondered where your emotions came from? The importance of this study was for
the research findings but also to the new psychological territory. Freuds psychoanalytic view of
human behavior was based on the idea that we are motivated by unconscious instincts and
repressed conflicts from early childhood. These emotional responses exist in all of us because we
have been conditioned to respond emotionally to certain stimuli that we encounter.
Hock (2013) the study of response is about the emotional response of a 9 month old Albert B.
who was raised as an orphan from birth. He was healthy both emotionally and physically. The
researchers presented him with a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey, a dog, and a mask with and
without hair, and white cotton wool. He at this time was not afraid of any of these things. Albert
was then exposed to a loud noise, all humans especially infants have a fear reaction to loud
sudden noise this is called an unconditioned stimulus. This noise startled and frightened him and
made him cry. The next test was done at 11 months old they presented him with the white rat and
when he reached for it they made that same loud noise as before, this startled and frightened him,
and they did it a total of seven time at that time.
They did it again in one week they gave Albert the white rat, at first he reached out to
touch the rat, and they made the loud noise again, they did this repeatedly for one week. A week
later they presented the rat alone with no noise. Albert reacted with extreme fear of the rat. He
began to cry

and rolled as far away as fast as he could get. The researchers then wanted to see if this was a
learned fear and if it was transferred to other objects. The next week Albert was still afraid of all
the rat and to the similar white rabbit, he still had a negative response. Albert was taken to an
entirely different room with brighter lights and more people were present and the fear was still
there after this testing. Albert was adopted and was scheduled to leave the hospital, and all the
testing was going to be stopped. When the last test were done and as far as anyone knows, there
was no reconditioning ever done on Albert
Watson had two goals in his study 1) to demonstrate that all humans behavior stems
from learning and conditioning. 2) To demonstrate that Freudian conception of human nature,
and that our behavior stems of emotions, may be learned in the same manner. He provide that his
theory was true. We have all developed an association in our brains between these stimuli and
specific emotions through a conditioning. More extreme emotional response, such as a phobia
results in similar sequences of conditioning.
Another important point regarding the ethics of this study was the fact that Albert was
allowed to leave the research and know one ever found out if he was reconditioned from these
fears. You are probably angered about the experiment of this innocent child this study clearly
violated today standers When Albert turned five years old for a birthday present he was given a
white rabbit. He was slightly afraid but as they continued to expose him to it without the load
noise he did not ever become or appear to be afraid of the rabbit. This is a part of constant
learning and unlearning, one conditioning and unconditioning we experience throughout our
lives. The mystery of Albert was identified as a boy by the name of Douglas and he passed away
at the age of 6 years old.

Summarizing the information in the Ciccarelli & White (2014 page 177) this study was a
demonstration of the classical conditioning of a phobia- an invalid response. In Little Albert
the loud noise was the unconditioned response the fear of the rat was the (phobia) this was the
conditioned response. The learning of the phobias is a very good example of a certain type of
classical conditioning. The conditioned emotional responses are some of the easiest forms of
classical conditioning. And all of our lives are full of these responses.
What I have learned from this reading is that I have a phobia. I was not born with it, I
started asking questions to find out wear it came from and found out that it was a fear that I
developed at a very young age. I have a phobia of snakes and this was caused by my older
brother scaring me and chasing me around the yard as a child. This phobia is so bad that if I see
one on TV and then go to sleep I will dream of them all night long and I will get up and take all
the sheets of the bed and search the bed if the blankets touch me just some way. I have learned if
I was to ever get over this I would problem have to see a specialist to be reconditio.

References APA
Hock, R.(2013) Forty studies that changed psychology: 7th Edition, Boston: Pearson @ 2013
Ciccarelli, S./White N.J.(2014) Psychology: Special edition for Delta psychology. Boston:
Pearson @ 2014