Little Albert Experiment
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John B. Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner conducted an experiment on a 9-month old boy called Little Albert to study emotional learning and stimulus generalization. They showed Albert neutral stimuli like a white rat while making a loud noise, causing him to become afraid of the rat and other similar objects. Unfortunately, they returned Albert to his mother without undoing the conditioning, and he died at age 6 still fearful without understanding why. The experiment supported Watson's behaviorist theory that all behaviors are learned through conditioning and reinforcement.
Little Albert Experiment
- 2. - Activity - • Think of a teacher that’s most unforgettable to you in your elementary or high school… • Are there things that when you encounter at present make you “go back to the past” and recall this teacher? What are these things?
- 3. Proponent: John B. Watson (1878 –1958) • American psychologist who established the Psychological School of Behaviorism. • Influenced by Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Theory. • Famous research – related to children’s emotion (Emotion learning: Stimulus Generalization)
- 4. Proponent: Rosalie Rayner • Watson’s graduate student-assistant • Had an affair with Watson but eventually became his wife after Watson got divorced.
- 5. The Experiment • Watson and Rayner took a 9mos. old child. • Paid the mother of the child $1.00 • Gave the child a Pseudo name, Albert • Showed Albert neutral stimulus such as a white rat, a puppy, santa mask, a rabbit and a fur coat
- 9. The Experiment • Unfortunately after the said experiment they returned the child without undoing what they have done to Little Albert • Little Albert died after 6 years with all the fears he has without exactly knowing why
- 10. Theory of Behaviorism • focuses on the study of observable and measurable behaviour. • emphasizes that behaviour is mostly learned through conditioning and reinforcement (reward and punishment). • does not give much attention to the mind and the possibility of thought processes occurring in the mind
- 11. Classical Conditioning • Deals with the reflexes or responses that are evoked from a specific stimulus. • People can be trained to perform a certain task or response by providing some sort of trigger, which may be a sound, picture, phrase, etc.
- 12. Implications in Teaching and Learning • All types of behaviour can be learned through conditioning process. Positive behaviour can be taught by using suitable stimulus. • Pupils ought to relate the relationship between all responses systematically in order to master the skill of solving problems.
- 13. Implications in Teaching and Learning • More exercises should be carried out after learning in order to strengthen what has been learned in the memory • Teacher should use suitable stimulus during the teaching process to motivate pupils in learning, and at the same time, avoid using stimulus which will produce negative effect.
- 14. The Pros and Cons of Behaviorism Pros: • Behaviorism is based on observable behaviors, making it easier to conduct and collect data and research. • Can be applicable/helpful for therapy of children with behavioral disorders
- 15. The Pros and Cons of Behaviorism Cons: • Does not account for other ways of learning that do not involve reinforcement • People can change their behavior when presented with new information, even if they have previously established a different behavior through reinforcement.