Because of associating the loud bang with a white rat, every time the rat was around Little Albert, he began to cry.
Zdrs: 2
Results - Pt 2
Because of this, Little Albert was then scared of all the other animals as well.
Zdrs: 3
Results - Pt 3
Generalisation- After 5 days, Watson realised that Little Albert developed phobias of objects with similar characteristics as the rat (i.e. a fur coat and a Santa mask).
Zdrs: 4
Results - Pt 4
Extinction- After a few months, Little Albert was presented with a white rat again, however his fear had decreased, However, after another month of conditioning him again, his fear returned.
Zdrs: 5
Conclusion
This experiment showed that classical conditioning can be used to create a phobia. It also demonstrates 2 other theories- extinction and generalisation.
Zdrs: 6
Evaluation - Disadvantages
or
1. The dependant variable (fear) was not operationalised2. As this experiment was only conducted with one person, the results can't be generalised3. Ethical issues- no informed consent was given, psychological harm (creating a fear response) and Watson didn't desensitise Little Albert to his fear of rats