John Watson's Theory Of Classic Conditioning

John Watson, after learning Ivan Pavlov’s theory of Classic Conditioning, believed it was worth exploring further. He believed that every person learned and perceived differently, which explained why there were differences in behavior. Watson and his assistant Rosalie Raynor conducted an experiment with a 9 month old infant known as Little Albert, according to Watson and Raynor, he was a healthy and well-adjusted boy with mild mannerisms . The experiment would attempt to condition fear of a white rat into Albert. First, Rosalie Raynor introduced Albert to multiple items, similar in sensation and texture; introduced to the rat, Santa Clause mask, a white fur coat, a monkey and burning newspaper, initially, Albert showed no fear. He was

curious about the mouse and other items, but was not distressed. What did cause fear was the hammer hitting a metal bar behind Albert. Over the course of the next couple of months the stimuli (hammer hitting the metal bar) was used and each time Albert burst into tears. Around the age of 11 months the rat was reintroduced as the hammer hit the metal pole. This was done 7 times over a 7 week period, by this time, Albert only had to be shown the rat and he began to cry. Watson and Raynor learned that items with similar characteristics to the mouse instilled the same fear.