AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -A white laboratory rat was placed near Albert and he was allowed to play with it. At this point, Watson and Rayner made a loud sound behind Albert’s back by striking a suspended steel bar with a hammer each time the baby touched the rat. Albert responded to the noise by crying and showing fear.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Little Albert Experiment demonstrated that classical conditioning-the association of a particular stimulus or behavior with an unrelated stimulus or behavior-works in human beings. In this experiment, a previously unafraid baby was conditioned to become afraid of a rat.

Detailed explanation-3: -After the continuous association of the white rat and loud noise, Little Albert was classically conditioned to experience fear at the sight of the rat. Albert’s fear generalized to other stimuli that were similar to the rat, including a fur coat, some cotton wool, and a Father Christmas mask.

Detailed explanation-4: -In this experiment, Watson and Rayner conditioned Little Albert into fearing a rat by producing a loud noise whenever he sees the rat, causing Little Albert to cry.

Detailed explanation-5: -Watson was able to carry out the process of classical conditioning on Little Albert, since he was able to take a neutral stimulus (white rat) and pair it with the unconditioned stimulus (loud noise) to create the conditioned stimulus (white rat) and conditioned response (fear).