Where do our fears come from? Is a fear of spiders or heights something we are born with, or is it something we learn? In 1920, psychologists John B. Watson and his graduate student Rosalie Rayner set out to answer this very question with a controversial study involving an infant known as “Little Albert.” This experiment aimed to prove that emotional responses, such as fear, could be classically conditioned in humans.
While it became a cornerstone of behaviorism, the Little Albert experiment is remembered just as much for its profound ethical failures as it is for its scientific findings, serving as a powerful lesson for all future psychological research. This article will explore the methods of this famous study, its contributions to psychology, and the lasting ethical debate it ignited.
Understanding the Theory: Classical Conditioning
The Little Albert experiment was built on the foundation of classical conditioning, a theory developed by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov’s work with dogs showed that a neutral stimulus could be paired with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response. In the context of Little Albert, the key terms are:
Key Concepts of Classical Conditioning
- An Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) is a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers an unconditioned response. In the experiment, the loud noise was the UCS because it instinctively caused Albert to feel fear and cry.
- An Unconditioned Response (UCR) is the unlearned, natural response to the UCS. Albert’s fear and crying when he heard the loud noise was the UCR.
- A Neutral Stimulus (NS) is a stimulus that initially produces no response. The white rat was the NS because Albert initially showed no fear of it.
- The Conditioned Stimulus (CS) is the previously neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly paired with the UCS, comes to trigger a conditioned response. After the experiment, the white rat became the CS.
- A Conditioned Response (CR) is the learned response to the CS. Albert’s fear of the white rat alone was the CR.
The Experiment: Step-by-Step
The experiment began with a baseline test where Albert was introduced to several objects, including a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey, and a Santa Claus mask. He showed no fear of any of them. The conditioning phase then began. Whenever Albert reached for the white rat, Watson would strike a steel bar with a hammer behind his head, creating a loud, sudden noise.
This pairing of the rat and the noise was repeated several times. After just a few pairings, Albert began to show signs of distress and fear whenever the rat appeared, even without the noise. This demonstrated that he had successfully been conditioned to fear the rat.
But the experiment did not stop there. Watson and Rayner wanted to see if the fear would spread. They found that Albert also showed fear when presented with other furry, white objects, such as a rabbit, a fur coat, and even a Santa Claus mask. This process is known as stimulus generalization, where the conditioned response extends to similar stimuli.
The Ethical Controversy
For all its scientific influence, the Little Albert experiment is most famous for its serious ethical violations. The researchers deliberately inflicted psychological distress on an infant and did so without the informed consent of Albert’s mother. The most significant failing was that Watson and Rayner did not decondition Little Albert, meaning they did not reverse the fear they had created in him. He was taken from the study before his fear could be extinguished.
This raises the alarming possibility that the fear of white, furry objects may have stayed with him for the rest of his life. The study’s disregard for the subject’s well-being would be unacceptable by today’s standards and stands as a powerful example of what not to do in psychological research.
Legacy and Impact
Despite its ethical shortcomings, the Little Albert experiment left an undeniable mark on psychology. It provided empirical evidence that emotional responses are not always innate and can be learned through the environment. The study gave strong support to the growing movement of **behaviorism**, which focused on observable behaviors rather than internal mental states. Most importantly, the controversy surrounding the study was a key factor in the development of modern ethical guidelines for psychological research.
The establishment of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and the requirement for informed consent are direct consequences of studies like this, ensuring that the well-being and safety of human participants are always the top priority.
FAQ
How did the researchers choose the subject for the experiment?
The researchers chose an infant from a local children’s home who was described as emotionally stable. They named him “Little Albert” for the purpose of the study. He was nine months old at the start of the experiment. His emotional stability at the beginning was important to the researchers because it demonstrated that he did not already have an existing fear of the objects that would be used in the study, which made his later fear a direct result of their conditioning process.
What was the final outcome of the experiment?
The experiment successfully demonstrated that an emotional response could be classically conditioned in a human. Little Albert learned to fear the white rat and this fear generalized to other similar objects. However, he was removed from the experiment before the researchers could decondition him. This means his fear was never reversed, and the long-term effects on his psychological well-being remain unknown and are the source of significant ethical criticism.
Did anyone ever discover Little Albert’s true identity?
Many researchers have tried to uncover the true identity of Little Albert over the years. Some have proposed that he was a child named Douglas Merritte, who died at an early age. Others have suggested he was a child named Albert Barger. However, there is no definitive conclusion, and his identity remains a mystery. This anonymity has added to the ethical debate surrounding the study.
Recommended Books on the Subject
- Behaviorism by John B. Watson
- The Little Albert Study: A History and Analysis by Alan J. Fridlund and Robert A. Fridlund
- Psychology of Learning and Behavior by Barry Schwartz and Edward L. Wasserman
- Opening Skinner’s Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater
- The Story of Psychology: A Concise Introduction to the Great Psychologists and Their Discoveries by Morton Hunt
