Aim
- To see if they could condition fear of an animal by simultaneously presenting the animal and striking a steel bar to make a loud noise and frighten the child
- The fear would be transferred to other animals and objects
- There would be an effect of time on the conditioned response
Procedure
- Lab experiment using a single participant: a male infant aged 9 months
- Assessed on his response to a number of objects, including a white rat, and displayed no initial fear
- Two months later he was again presented with the white rat. When he reached for the rat the researcher struck a four-foot metal bar behind his head, making a loud noise and frightening the child
- The procedure was repeated five times a week later and twice more 17 days later
Results
- First trial: displayed some distress, jumping violently and sticking his face into the mattress
- Second trail: suspicious of the rat
- Third trial: leaned away from the rat when it was presented
- When a rabbit was placed next to him, the child cried
- 7 weeks later the child cried in response to a variety of white furry objects
Conclusion
- Stimulus generalisation shows that Albert transferred the fear to other similar stimuli
- CR still occurred 31 days later so concluded that it may last a lifetime
- Mother removed him before he could be unconditioned
Before Conditioning
Rat (NS) = No response
Noise of bar (UCS) = Fear shown by crying (UCR)
During Conditioning
Rat (NS) + Noise (UCS) = Fear (UCR)
After Conditioning
Rat (CS) = Fear (CR)
Evaluation Summary
- G – low – one ppt – findings are unique to him
- R – high – standardised procedure (7 episodes of joint stimulation) – replicable
- R – low – study was not replicated due to ethical issues – no research support
- A – yes – understanding of development of fears – use this to treat fears
- V – low – no control group – cause and effect cannot be determined
- V – low ecological – lab – unnatural response
- V – low – observations were subjective – at risk of researcher bias
- E – low – not protected from harm – was not unconditioned