The ‘Little Albert’ Experiment

Read through the paper on Watson and Rayner’s study, and answer the following
questions in full sentences.

1. What was Watson’s stance on conditioning before the study took place?
2. What was the theoretical basis behind the study?
3. What was the neutral stimuli?
4. What was the unconditioned stimulus?
a. Why was this chosen?
5. How old was Albert when the study began?
6. Which object was the first to be conditioned?
a. How was this done?
b. How long did it take for Albert to become fearful?
7. What is a generalisation?
8. What happened when Albert was presented with the white rabbit?
a. Why did this reaction occur?
b. What does Albert’s reaction to the rabbit tell us?
9. Name all of the items presented to Albert
10. Which stimulus produced the strongest response?
11. Which stimulus, if any, produced little to no response?
12. Was Albert ever reconditioned or debriefed? If not, why?
a. What are the issues and implications of this?