16/08/2017

Aarushi Jain

The Little Albert Experiment

An experiment conducted in 1920 by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner at John Hopkins
University, the Little Albert experiment was supposed to test whether fear of an ordinary object
could be induced in babies if paired with a stimulus that was thought to “trigger inborn fear.”

The experiment carried out was a controlled experiment, meaning that only one variable was altered
at any given time. Watson first got the idea for this experiment after seeing that children fear loud
noises, which is an instinctive, inborn response. This was further tested by Watson by conducting
an experiment through classical conditioning.

In this experiment, using classical conditioning, the elements were as follows:

“Neutral stimulus: white rat

Unconditioned stimulus: the loud noise
Unconditioned response: fear
Conditioned stimulus: the white rat
Conditioned response: fear”

Albert B, the 9 month old child, was shown numerous stimuli such as a white rat, rabbit,
newspapers on fire, monkeys, masks (with and without hair), etc. As expected, Albert wasn’t scared
by any of the given stimuli. The next time however, when Albert was shown the white rat again, it
was coupled with the sound of a metal pipe and hammer colliding. At the sound, Albert began to
cry. These two stimuli were used a couple more times, and in the end, when Albert saw the rat, even
without the loud noise, he began to cry. This unethical experiment ended up creating a phobia in
Albert at only 9 months, which might have never went away.

Watson and Rayner’s observations were as follows:

"The instant the rat was shown, the baby began to cry. Almost instantly he turned sharply to the left,
fell over on [his] left side, raised himself on all fours and began to crawl away so rapidly that he
was caught with difficulty before reaching the edge of the table.”

The consequences of this unethical experiment lead to Albert having a fear of anything which
resembled the colour white, and objects which seemed furry, for example a Santa Claus beard or a
dog.

This experiment has been criticised by many people throughout history, for ethical and other
reasons. There were numerous flaws in the design of the experiment and the actual process, for
example Albert’s responses to the stimuli were recorded subjectively and not with an accurate
apparatus.

Albert B’s conditioned fear wasn’t able to be eradicated as he shifted along with his mother soon
after the occurrence of this experiment. However, after a 7 year search for the whereabouts of this
boy, Albert, whose actual name was Douglas Merritte, died on May 10th, 1925, at the mere age of
six. The death was due to hydrocephalus, where a fluid builds up in your brain. Furthermore, in
2012, Watson’s descriptions of the boy being “healthy” and “normal” were disproved by a
psychologist named Hall P. Beck, who also conducted the 7 year search. Two years later, these
findings were under inspection because another theory of a boy called William Barger, born on the
same day Douglas Merritte was born, to a nurse who worked in the hospital Merritte’s mother
worked in too, was said to have been Little Albert.

Cherry, Kendra. “What Was the Little Albert Experiment?” Verywell, www.verywell.com/the-little-
albert-experiment-2794994.

“10 Bizarre Psychology Experiments That Completely Crossed the Line.” Online Psychology
Degrees, www.online-psychology-degrees.org/10-bizarre-psychology-experiments/.

Cherry, Kendra. “How Classical Conditioning Works: An Overview With Examples.” Verywell,
www.verywell.com/classical-conditioning-2794859.

“Potency.” Potency - Biology-Online Dictionary, www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Potency.

“10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today.” 10 Famous Psychological
Experiments That Could Never Happen Today | Mental Floss, 20 Sept. 2013,
mentalfloss.com/article/52787/10-famous-psychological-experiments-could-never-happen-today.

“The 25 Most Influential Psychological Experiments in History.” Online Psychology Degree Guide,
www.onlinepsychologydegree.info/influential-psychological-experiments/.