...permanent change in the way an organism responds based on its experience. The famous experiment of Watson and Rayner with “Little Albert” shows clearly how classical conditioning can account for irrational fears, or phobias. This example of classical conditioning as well as Aristotle’s laws of association which account for learning and memory that describe the conditions under which one thought becomes connected or associated with another can perhaps help shed light on the genesis of phobias. Another term for classical conditioning is respondent conditioning; it is a procedure by which a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after it is paired with a stimulus that automatically elicits a response. In the Little Albert experiment, Watson and Rayner used an unconditional reflex, through an unconditional stimulus to produce and unconditioned response one that occurs naturally without any prior learning. Albert was presented with a variety of objects, including a dog, a rabbit, a white rat, a Santa Claus mask, and a fur coat. Albert showed no fear of these objects; in fact he regularly played with the rat. Watson and Rayner then tested Little Albert’s response to a loud noise; Albert reacted by jumping, and whimpering. Watson and Rayner then decided that the white rat would be the conditioned stimulus in their experiment, every time Albert reached out to touch the rat, they would produce the loud noise that initially...
Words: 850 - Pages: 4
...The “Little Albert” Experiment was conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Raynor. Watson was interested in showing that emotional reactions could be classically conditioned or learned in people. He based his research off of Pavlov’s research with dogs. The participant in the experiment was “Albert B”, as Watson called him, but became known as Little Albert. Around 8 months, Little Albert was placed in a room and an experimenter stood behind him and made a loud noise by striking a hammer on a steel bar. He began to cry after hearing the sound a few times. At the age of 9 months, Watson and his counterpart, Rosalie Raynor, exposed Albert to a series of stimuli including a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey, masks, and burning newspapers and observed the boy’s reactions. He initially showed no fear of any of the objects. The next time Albert was exposed to the rat, Watson made a loud noise by striking the hammer on the steel bar. Naturally the child began to cry after hearing the loud noise. After repeatedly pairing the rat with the loud noise Albert began to cry by just simply seeing the rat. They also observed that stimulus generalization had occurred. Albert feared not just the white rat, but also a wide variety of similar white objects and furry objects. In this experiment the neutral stimulus was the white rat, the unconditioned stimulus was the loud noise, the unconditioned response was fear, the conditioned stimulus was the white rat, and the conditioned response was fear. ...
Words: 813 - Pages: 4
...Homework: Little Albert. 1. Did the results of Watson and Rayner's experiment support their hypothesis? - Yes, it did. The hypothesis was that most human behaviours and emotional reactions are built up on conditioned response. The result from the conditioning Watson and Rayner subject Albert to proves this hypothesis because Albert responded to the unconditioned stimulus which was brought around by the unconditioned response that is also known as fear. After combining these specific factors, the rat became the conditioned stimulus and that elicited a conditioned response from Albert. A conditioned response in this case, is fear. 2. How did Albert's response become generalised? - Albert’s response became generalised after he was subjected to ‘conditioning’ by Watson and Rayner when he was eleven years old. They instill the fear of rats within Albert and not soon after, they present him with the same toys back when he was nine years old. Albert was afraid of the toys that look even remotely furry such as a dog, a rabbit and a Santa Claus mask. However, Albert was not afraid of the blocks that were presented to him and from there, both Watson and Rayner have concluded that Albert is afraid of furry objects and therefore they have generalised his fear based upon the results of their experiment that was conducted on him. 3. How were the principles of classical conditioning used to reduce Peter's fear of rabbits? - The principles of classical conditioning were used to create...
Words: 620 - Pages: 3
...INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (McLeod, 2015) Psychodynamic approach includes human functioning that drives within the unconscious and between different structures of personality. The understanding of human behaviour is called ‘psychoanalysis’. (Freud, 1939), the father of psychology, assumed that mental illnesses wasn’t something to be treated medically but by what has come to be known as psychodynamic therapy. He advocated that the unconscious mind could influence the mental illness whilst recovering (Cardwell, 1996). This approach to psychoanalysis is demonstrated in his treatment of Anna O. Freud assumed that mental illnesses wasn’t something to be treated medically but by therapy. He implicated that unconscious mind could influence the mental illness whilst recovering (Cardwell, 1996). He diagnosed her illness as hysteria and developed a form of therapy to treat her symptoms (Webster, 2015). (Cardwell, 2004) Freud compared the mind to an iceberg with the water above being the conscious and the water beneath the unconscious part of the mind. The id - the primary part of personality follows pleasure and gratification, and dominates the unconscious part of the mind. Ego - driven by reality principles and penalties of an action dominates the conscious mind. Superego contains conscience and guilt, and also dwells mostly in the conscious mind. The superego develops as we become aware of societal rules. (Cardwell, 1996) According to Freud we have two drives which are sex and...
Words: 3310 - Pages: 14
...Albert Fish’s real name is Hamilton Howard “Albert” Fish. He was born on May 19,1870. He was a serial killer. He enjoyed rapping little boys and eating them, he had a child in every state. Every member in his family suffered from severe mental illnesses and so did he also. His father was 43 years older than his mother and was 75 years old when Albert was born. He lived a very rough childhood. He was in an orphanage until the age of nine. Albert had gotten beaten daily and once he started enjoying the pain that is what triggered what he did. When he was 10 years old his mother had a government job that helped him get out of the orphanage. He was the youngest out of three: Walter, Annie, and Edwin. Everyone in his family had a history of a...
Words: 741 - Pages: 3
...substance, an object, an activity, or a habit that is psychologically or physically habit-forming such as narcotics are, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma and most often an interruption in a person’s life (Robinson & Berridge, 2003). For the most part, addiction is a disease. When we are born, we start experimenting and learning for survival among other things. Phobias can develop through learning. The two most common and prominent ways or styles of learning are classical and operant learning. Classical and operant conditioning are psychological processes in which a person learns. Therefore, phobias and addictions are associated to classical and operant conditioning. Learning theorist, Edward Thorndike and Albert Bandura can account for two emotional difficulties, which are phobias and addictions. Learning theorist also include behaviorist Edward Tolman, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, and British naturalist Charles Darwin. Phobias and addictions are emotional issues or difficulties that many people have to cope with daily. Phobias are irrational fear. These fears can be powerful and at times devastating yet they are unfounded and are not based on fact or reality. In addition, addiction most often involves a psychologically or physically need for a substance or object, which a person, cannot control in order to perform certain behaviors or actions; for example, drug abuse, gambling, or criminal activity. Ultimately, individuals who continue to...
Words: 1217 - Pages: 5
...learned by association and by learning methods such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Some phobias are believed to be developed through classical conditioning. If a neutral stimulus is paired with and unconditioned stimulus that creates an unconditioned response that causes fear, a conditioned stimulus of fear will occur every time you encounter the neutral stimulus. In a study performed by JohnWatson, the founder of American behaviorism, he tested the theory of phobias developed through classical conditioning. Choosing a healthy nine month old baby, Little Albert, he experimented with a rat and loud banging of a steel hammer. After being presented with the rat, Little Albert played with the rat and had no fear. After being presented with the steel being banged, he became scared. After a few months of combining the rat with the loud banging, Little Albert became very fearful of the rat. Little Albert learned to associate the loud banging with the rat. This classical conditioning produced a conditioned stimulus or an emotional response of fear and a phobia. Addiction is a learned behavior because the initial pleasure or enjoyment is rewarding. According to the principles of operant conditioning, rewarded behaviors will increase with usage of certain substances. Drugs are substances that cause addictions in humans. Drugs are mostly addicting because they cause Dopamine and serotonin levels to rise. Dopamines are neurotransmitters with wide-ranging effects...
Words: 941 - Pages: 4
...Abstract Behavioral psychology also known as behaviorism in focusing on observable behaviors, which behaviorists uses key concepts of conditioning, punishment, and reinforcement. John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner’s approach on behaviorism exhibited behavioral psychology as the model of formal disciplinary. On the other hand, Edward C. Tolman’s approach on behavioral learning subsidized to behavioral psychology. Although Watson, Skinner, and Tolman’s approaches were different in describing and explaining their theoretical approach, Watson, Skinner, and Tolman contributed their own theories proven to impact a part of psychology in influencing the advancement of modern day psychology in understanding behavior and human learning. Perspectives John B. Watson (1878-1958) was born in a small city (Travelers Rest) in Greenville County of South Carolina to Emma Watson and Pickens Butler. Watson was an American psychologist who founded the psychological school of behaviorism and the first to advocate a behavioral approach. Watson believed that one could benefit a full understanding of behavior by learning and modifying the environment in which people function and control as well as he thought that it was feasible and probable to produce any desired type of behavior by controlling a person’s environment (Feldman, 2010). According to Watson, psychology should be the science of observable behavior in which he treated mental events outside the province of a scientific psychology. Watson’s...
Words: 2156 - Pages: 9
...Albert Einstien Albert Einstein Every era has its own heroes. People who stood out amongst the rest. The human race is such a young species compared to the others that we share this amazing planet with. Because we are so young, we still have a lot to learn. I was once told that a day without learning something new, is a day wasted. There is no reason that you should not learn one new thing every day. The world is an amazing place that has so much to offer and so much to learn. How one decides to accomplish the above statement is up to them. There are going to be people who take that a little more serious than others. Among the people of the 19th century that stand out, Albert Einstein is one that has become a house hold name because of the discoveries and theories he was able to come up with in his lifetime. As you read history books, it will be hard not to see Albert Einstein’s name. He alone has made some of the more significant discoveries in our history as a race. The way he was able to achieve this was not in the way one would think. When typically thinking of a person such as Einstein, what comes to mind is someone who spent their lives as a professor in a university, where they were able to spend their time expanding their knowledge and share theories with people of their same intelligence. This environment would allow for them to grow their knowledge by the influences of their surroundings. However this is not the case for Einstein. It wasn’t...
Words: 294 - Pages: 2
...Albert Camus THE STRANGER THE Stranger By ALBERT CAMUS Translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert VINTAGE BOOKS A Division of Random House NEW YORK 1 Albert Camus THE STRANGER VINTAGE BOOKS are published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and Random House, Inc. Copyright 1942 by Librairie Gallimard as L’ÉTRANGER Copyright 1946 by ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper. Manufactured in the United States of America. Distributed in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. 2 Albert Camus THE STRANGER Contents Contents ........................................................................................................................ 3 Part One ........................................................................................................................ 4 I.................................................................................................................................. 4 II .............................................................................................................................. 14 III ............................................................................................................................. 18 IV.............................................................
Words: 36514 - Pages: 147
...conditioning. The development of a phobia through classical conditioning, although not likely logical, can significantly impact every day life, in some cases disabling a person from doing common day-to-day things. Similarly, addictions developed through operant conditioning can be detrimental to a person’s health and well-being. Although both phobias and addictions can be difficult to expel, through extinction, a process of removing the reinforcer, it can be completed (Cherry, n.d.). This essay will explore classical conditioning phobias and operant conditioning addictions and the remedy through extinction for both. Phobias Through Classical Conditioning According to Merriam-Webster Online (n.d.) phobias are: : an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object. This makes perfect sense considering how a phobia is developed. Classical conditioning is a learning style that associates something (sound, smell, etc.) that historically would have not been corresponded with it. A phobia is likely to be developed through an association to fear. As an example, in the 1920’s John Watson and Rosalie Rayner performed experiments on a 9-month baby, Little Albert, that paired a harmless item, such as a white bunny or white rate with a sound that frightened the baby (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). In this case baby had a response, without any prior learning, to be fearful because of the loud bell being rung directly behind him or what...
Words: 889 - Pages: 4
...Little Albert and Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning may be defined as; a kind of associative learning where two stimuli happen in a combined as well as frequent manner because of which, they ultimately become linked with each other. The outcome of this union is that each stimulus sooner or later generates an identical response. In fact, this technique is applied in behavioral training in which Unconditioned Stimulus (US) is paired with and leads towards the Conditioned Stimulus (CS) until the conditioned stimulus unaccompanied is enough to bring out the response (Abell et al., 1999). To understand it clearly, there is need to recall the experiment performed by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in 1920. Watson suggested that psychological researches should be based merely on apparent behaviors and due to this viewpoint, his research was related with conditioning of fear (learned). He demonstrated above conditioning via usual procedures including association of stimuli, and research subject chosen by him for the purpose was an 11-month old child Albert. Albert was an extremely firm infant who hardly ever exhibited fear of anything involving the white rat present in laboratory, but Watson and Rayner noticed that he was afraid of loud noises (Unconditioned Stimulus). They decided to implement this innate fear response (Unconditioned Response (UR)) shown by Albert as a tool in their study. So; they created piercing sound by striking a big steel pipe with hammer. ...
Words: 964 - Pages: 4
...In most households, parents would put their lives on the lives on the line for their children. Even in bad situations, parents will do this. Though they may try, failure is inevitable In this case, though, trying to help your kid will actually worsen their lives in the long run. Parents who are put in miserable situations and who try and aim for their child's success will fail. This is shown through the two true stories of Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, and Albert DeMeo, author of For The Sins Of My Father, and how their parents raised each kid. It is shown through the parents impact of Debra and Albert DeMeo, and Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen Walls’s life. A good parent will strive for the success of their children. In the case of Rex and Rosemary Walls in the true story of The Glass Castle, they don’t do as such. Rex focused more on alcohol and himself than his children while his wife focused more on her sugar addiction and her artwork than anyone's welfare. Due to these dire situations, Lori, Jeanette, and Brian Walls had no support to rely on but their own. Though it seemed like a horrible situation to be in, for this dysfunctional family, it was the perfect solution. “Was...
Words: 1389 - Pages: 6
...Supplemental Case Chapter 11: Cutting Costs at Elite Financial Services As Albert Johnson, Director of Compensation at Elite Financial Services, examines the annual budget, he is concerned about the rising cost of the healthcare insurance the company provides to its’ employees. In response to some recent challenges in the marketplace, Elite’s CEO has sent out the directive to cut costs wherever possible. The company’s healthcare insurance benefit accounts for more than one third of the overall benefits budget and Albert thinks that there may be some opportunity for savings. Elite Financial Services provides financial planning support to a variety of clients. Unlike many of their competitors, Elite provides healthcare insurance to all of their Financial Planners and also to the entire administrative staff. The company provides a basic fee-forservice indemnity plan for its’ 275 employees. The company also provides vision and dental insurance. About 60 of the employees have single coverage, 75 cover themselves and their spouse and the remaining employees have full family coverage. Over the past ten years, Elite has had to compete with other leaders in their industry for talented Financial Planners. As a result, the company’s priority in the past has been to make the company benefit program as attractive as possible to current and future employees. Pay for Financial Planners is based primarily upon incentives and therefore, offering a generous benefit program allowed...
Words: 374 - Pages: 2
...The Outsider – Albert Camus Albert Camus presents ideas of identity and the human condition in his classic novel The Outsider, through his exploration of gender and cultural representations as well as an insight into absurdum and existentialism. These concepts of identity and the human condition reflect on the society in which the novella has been set, demonstrating how women, those of other cultures and those who are considered to be different are represented. The novella tells a recollection of events of a young man named Meursault, emotionally detached from a society where he refuses to conform to society’s conventions and in turn a refusal to ‘play the game’. The novella begins with the death of Meursault’s mother and ends with his own, his execution for the guiltless murder of an Arab man. Meursault’s refusal to play the game and willingness to live by his own set of rules is what has him condemned in the end. In the patriarchal society known to the characters of The Outsider by Albert Camus, gender ideologies are explored. In the novella, men are represented as the dominant, powerful gender while women are represented as weak and undermined. It is through the character of Meursault’s girlfriend Marie, that the idea of gender identity is revealed. When Meursault is arrested for the murder of the Arab man, Marie is called to court as a witness to the crime, as well as been questioned for her own character. At the court case, instead of Marie being asked for her recollection...
Words: 1472 - Pages: 6
