John B. Watson

1. Watson exposed “little Albert” to rats, cats, dogs, monkeys and other furry things, which caused no fear to “little Albert”. After, produced loud noises every time “little Albert” saw a furry object. “Little Albert” was afraid of furry objects because he made a relationship between furry objects and loud scary noises. This experiment was an example of stimulus generalization.

2. The conditioned stimulus is: the rat, the unconditioned stimulus is: the loud noise, and the conditioned response: “little Albert” crying.

3. Two limitations for this study are: 1. Not all people respond the same way to a stimulus, and Watson only performed this experiment with “little Albert”. 2. Watson used unethical means in this experiment therefore it cannot be replicated.

4. Watson’s law of frequency states that the more often two things are associated, the connection between the two things will be stronger.

5. Watson’s law of recency states: "The response that has most recently occurred after a particular stimulus is the response most likely to be associated with that stimulus."

6. Behaviorism: Watson through his experiments determined that: our environment determines all behavior whatsoever. For instance, the fear Watson “taught” little Albert.


http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~Lynda_abbot/Behaviorism.html