The Psychology Book

70

conditioning as Pavlov had in his
experiments with dogs. The child’s
natural response to the noise—fear
and distress—had now become
associated with the rat. The child
had become conditioned to respond
to the rat with fear. In terms of
classical conditioning, the rat was
initially a neutral stimulus eliciting
no particular response; the loud
noise was an “unconditioned
stimulus” (US) that elicited an
“unconditioned response” (UR) of
fear. After conditioning, the rat had
become a “conditioned stimulus”
(CS), eliciting the “conditioned
response” (CR) of fear.
However, this conditioning
seemed to go deeper than simply a
fear of the white rat, and appeared
to be far from temporary. In order
to test whether Albert’s fear had
“generalized,” or spread to other,
similar objects, he was reintroduced
to white furry things—including
a rabbit, a dog, and a sheepskin
coat—five days after the original
conditioning. Albert showed the
same distressed and fearful
response to these as to the rat.
In these experiments, Watson
demonstrated that human emotions
are susceptible to classical

conditioning. This was a new

finding, because previous stimulus–

response experiments had focused

on testing the learning of physical

behaviors. Watson had discovered

that not only can human behavior

be predicted—given certain stimuli

and conditions—it can also be

controlled and modified. A further

check of Albert’s reactions to the

rat, rabbit, and dog one month later

suggested that the effects of this

conditioning were long-lasting, but

this could not be proven as Albert

was soon after removed from the

hospital by his mother. It has been

suggested that this was a sign of the

mother’s distress, but according to

Watson and Rayner’s own account,

it occurred on a prearranged date.

Infinitely malleable

Watson’s career was abruptly

brought to an end shortly after the

Little Albert experiments when he

was forced to resign his professorship

amid the scandal of his affair with

his researcher, Rosalie Rayner.

Despite the incompleteness of his

research, Watson felt vindicated in

his belief in behaviorism, and more

particularly the application

of classical stimulus–response

conditioning to humans. Perhaps

Watson saw the child

as the ultimate “blank

slate.” He claimed that

behaviorist principles

could be used to mold

children into any kind of

specialist, from artist to

doctor, regardless of nature.

I shall never be

satisfied until I have

a laboratory in which

I can bring up

children... under

constant observation.

John B. Watson

Doctor

Judge

Artist

JOHN B. WATSON

Writer