Question

In Watson and Rayner's experiments, Little Albert was conditioned to fear a white rat, and then he began to be afraid of other furry white objects. This demonstrates _____ a. higher order conditioning b. acquisition c. stimulus discrimination d. stimulus generalization

Short answer

The demonstrated phenomenon is stimulus generalization.

Step-by-step solution

Understand the given phenomenon

Firstly, one needs to understand the happening in the experiment. Little Albert was made to fear a specific white rat. Subsequently, his fear extended to other furry white objects too, not only towards the rat.

Identify the phenomenon

The experience of the fear being transferred from a single specific object (the white rat) to a broader range of similar objects (furry white objects) refers to a specific concept in psychology.

Match the concept to the options

Among the given options, the aforementioned phenomenon matches with 'Stimulus Generalization'. This is because stimulus generalization is when the conditioned response is triggered by stimuli that are similar to the initial conditioned stimulus. Here, the fear (conditioned response) originally for the white rat (conditioned stimulus) extended to other similar objects.

Key concepts

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is a foundational concept in behavioral psychology that refers to the learning process by which a natural response to a certain stimulus becomes triggered by a new, previously neutral stimulus. This type of learning was first described by Ivan Pavlov in the late 19th century. Pavlov's famous experiments with dogs revealed that a neutral stimulus (like a bell) could become associated with an unconditioned stimulus (like food) that naturally produces an unconditioned response (like salivation). After repeated pairings, the neutral stimulus alone would elicit the response, now termed a conditioned response. Thus, the bell became a conditioned stimulus.

In simple terms, classical conditioning involves four elements:

• Unconditioned Stimulus (US): a stimulus that naturally triggers a response.
• Unconditioned Response (UR): the natural reaction to the unconditioned stimulus.
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS): an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with the US, triggers a conditioned response.
• Conditioned Response (CR): the learned response to the formerly neutral stimulus.

Little Albert Experiment

The Little Albert experiment is a classic study in the field of psychology, conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in 1920. This experiment highlighted the process of classical conditioning in humans. A nine-month-old baby named Albert was exposed to various stimuli, including a white rat, which initially didn't elicit any fear in him. Watson and Rayner then started making a loud, frightening noise every time Albert interacted with the rat. As a result, Albert began to associate the noise with the white rat.

The key takeaway from this experiment was that Albert developed a conditioned fear response to the white rat, despite the fact that the rat had never harmed him. Over time, Albert's conditioned fear generalized beyond the white rat to other furry objects, demonstrating how classical conditioning impacts emotional responses and how these responses can be broadened to other similar stimuli. The ethical considerations of this experiment are still a topic of debate in modern psychology, as the induced fear was distressing for Albert, and the experiment lacked proper informed consent.

Conditioned Response

A conditioned response (CR) is the learned response to a conditioned stimulus in classical conditioning. It is an essential part of the learning process where a response formerly produced by a natural, unconditioned stimulus is now elicited by a stimulus that was initially neutral. In the context of the Little Albert experiment, the conditioned response was the fear that Albert felt. Initially, the white rat (conditioned stimulus) was neutral and did not cause fear (unconditioned response). However, after pairing the rat with the loud noise (unconditioned stimulus) that naturally caused distress, Albert began to fear the rat without any noise being present.

The development of a conditioned response can have significant implications, extending beyond simple experiments in a psychology lab. It explains a range of human behaviors and phobias, as individuals learn to associate certain stimuli with emotional responses. Furthermore, conditioned responses can sometimes be reversed or extinguished through a process known as counterconditioning, where the associations are weakened by not pairing the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus repeatedly, or by pairing it with a different, positive unconditioned stimulus.