BY: MARIA LUISA IZAGUIRRE John B. Watson Behaviorism: little Albert

Behaviorism Quote “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.”

Background Info. John Broadus Watson is an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism, after doing research on animal behavior. He also conducted the controversial "Little Albert" experiment. Later he went on from psychology to become a popular author on child- rearing, and an acclaimed contributor to the advertising industry.

Biography John Broadus Watson was born in 1878 in Greenville, South Carolina, to Emma and Pickens Watson. He attended Furman University in South Carolina. He was a good and advanced student and entered college at the age of 16 and finished with a master degree at age 21.

Life studies He then continued his studies by attending University of Chicago, in which he developed an interest in comparative psychology and animal study. He studied philosophy with John Dewey on the recommendation of Furman professor, Gordon Moore, who U.S. and a major proponent of the view that life and the behavior of living organisms could be explained entirely by chemistry and physics without recourse to a supposed "vital force". Accordingly, Loeb taught that all behavior was dictated by instinct and learned responses to stimuli.

It only took him three years to major in psychology and neurology, with a minor in philosophy under the well-known scholars J.R. Angell, H. H. Donaldson, and John Dewey. John went on to earn his Ph. D in 1903 at the age of twenty-five, in which he did his dissertation on the relation between behavior in the white rat and the growth of its nervous system.

Personal life He then stayed at the University of Chicago as an assistant and as a teacher at the university. After only one year, he married one of his students, Mary Amelia Ickes. John and Mary had their first child in June of 1905 which they named Mary. They also gave birth to their second child, John, some years later. John began dating other women on the campus, while his wife Mary was home with the children. John was even in danger of losing his job because of all the gossip.

He left the university of Chicago and started working in John Hopkins university in Baltimore, Maryland. While working in John Hopkins he set up his own laboratory to do many psychological experiments with animals.

More background info. In 1913 he published his first article “Psychology as a Behaviorist Views It.” He explained his beliefs that psychology was a science of human behavior, very similar to animal behavior, and it must be studied under careful lab conditions.

Major accomplishments He published his article Behavior: An introduction to comparative psychology. In this article he said that the best experimental tool was to use conditioned responses. He was chosen as the president of American Psychological Association and he edited many journals of professionals.

Little Albert background information John B. Watson and his partner, Rayner chose Albert from a hospital, for this study at the age of nine months. Albert's mother was a wet nurse at the Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children. Albert was the son of an employee of the Phipps Clinic at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where Watson and Rayner were conducting their experiments.

Little Albert Experiment Humans are naturally born with two fears: 1. The fear of falling 2. The fear to loud noices

Fears Watson disagreed with the theory that humans were born with two fears. Watson believed that all fears and behaviors are learned. Watson wanted to prove that your fear and behavior is learned. Everything that humans do is learned.

Fear of rats Little albert was given a white rat to play with. His first response was playful. He demonstrated no fear at all. He was palying with the rat.

The next time the rat was given to Albert, he did exactly the same thing. This time, the psychologists made a loud noise using a metal pipe and a hammer. The noise was so sudden and loud that it made little Albert cry. They did the same thing a lot of times. Finally, when they gave Albert the rat without the noise, the child would cry at the sight of the animal.

Next, they introduced a white rabbit and as soon as Albert saw the animal, he began to cry. They gave him a Santa Claus mask which also made him cry. Little Albert was conditioned to cry at the sight of the white rat, but in the process, he made the connection to anything that was white and furry would lead to a loud noise.

Experiment This experiment demonstrated that all behaviors are learned. Watson concluded that all phobias are most likely conditioned. He stated that phobias were probably either a fear of the original stimulus or that they had been transeferred to other stimuli, as the person grew older.

Video: Little Albert experiment This video shows when they present the white rat to little albert. Then they condition him to become afraid of the white rat and all of the white animals they show him.

Ethics Albert was eight months and twenty six days old at the time of the first test. Because of his young age, the experiment today would be considered, by the American Psychological Association's ethic code unethical. Since this experiment, and others that pushed the boundaries of experimental ethics, the APA has banned studies considered unethical.

By present-day standards, Watson's experiment was unethical for several reasons. Albert's mother was not informed of the experiment. It was performed without her consent. Researchers today are required to obtain fully informed consent from participants or in the case of infants/children, from their parents/guardians before any study can begin.

It is also today considered unethical to evoke responses of fear in a laboratory setting, unless a participant has given informed consent to being intentionally frightened as part of an experiment. Experiments should not cause the participants to suffer unnecessary distress or to be in any way physically harmed. The welfare of the participants must always be the paramount consideration in any form of research, and this especially true with specially protected groups such as children.

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