PSYC 330 Video Project- Conditioned Emotional Responses
Summary
TLDRThis script discusses a classical experiment by Watson and Rayner that explores conditioned emotional responses. Using a participant named Albert B., the researchers aimed to condition fear by associating a neutral stimulus, such as a white rat, with an unconditioned stimulus, a loud noise. Over time, Albert developed a fear response not only to the rat but to other furry objects. The experiment demonstrated that conditioned emotional responses can persist and transfer across stimuli. However, it raised ethical concerns as no deconditioning was performed. The study also provided insights into understanding phobias and emotional conditioning.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Watson and Rayner's study focused on conditioning emotional responses like fear, rage, or love.
- 🐶 An example of a conditioned emotional response is feeling anxious around dogs after being bitten as a child.
- 👶 The study used a participant named Albert B. to explore how fear could be conditioned.
- ⚡ The researchers aimed to answer four questions: conditioning fear, transfer of fear, effects of time, and ways to remove fear responses.
- 🔔 At 9 months, Albert was shown neutral stimuli, and at 11 months, he was conditioned to fear a white rat through the use of a steel bar.
- 🐀 Albert developed a fear response to the rat, which generalized to other furry objects like rabbits, fur coats, and dogs.
- 📊 Observational techniques were used to gather data, showing that the conditioned response persisted for over a month but decreased in intensity over time.
- 🧩 Albert showed no fear toward blocks, indicating they were used as a neutral control stimulus.
- 😱 The study highlighted that conditioned emotional responses can persist and influence personality, and phobias may result from these reactions.
- 🍼 Albert’s coping mechanism, thumb-sucking, was compared to Freud's theory of erogenous zones that block fear, contributing to the understanding of coping and phobias.
Q & A
What is a conditioned emotional response as described in the script?
-A conditioned emotional response is an emotional reaction, such as fear or anxiety, that is learned through the process of classical conditioning. In the script, it is demonstrated by the example of feeling nervous around dogs after being bitten by one in childhood.
What was the main objective of Watson and Rayner's experiment?
-The main objective was to explore whether emotional responses, such as fear, could be conditioned. Specifically, they aimed to condition fear in a child using stimuli and examine whether this response could be transferred to other objects or animals.
Who was the participant in the Watson and Rayner experiment, and what stimuli were used?
-The participant was a child named Albert B. The stimuli included a white rat, which was initially neutral, and a loud noise created by striking a steel bar, which served as the unconditioned stimulus to elicit fear.
What were the four research questions Watson and Rayner sought to answer?
-1. Can fear be conditioned by presenting an animal and striking a steel bar simultaneously? 2. Can the conditioned emotional response transfer to other animals or objects? 3. What effect does time have on the conditioned emotional response? 4. What laboratory methods can remove a conditioned emotional response if it does not die out over time?
How did Albert respond to neutral stimuli at nine months old?
-At nine months old, Albert did not show any signs of fear when presented with neutral stimuli, such as a white rat or other objects.
How was the fear response conditioned in Albert?
-The fear response was conditioned by showing Albert a white rat and simultaneously striking a steel bar behind his head, which caused him to cry in fear. This process was repeated, leading Albert to associate the rat with fear.
What was the outcome of Albert's response to other furry objects?
-After conditioning, Albert showed fear not only toward the white rat but also toward other furry objects like a fur coat, rabbit, cotton wool, and even a dog, suggesting the conditioned response transferred to similar stimuli.
What role did the blocks play in the experiment?
-The blocks served as a neutral stimulus control. Albert never showed a fear response to the blocks and played with them readily, demonstrating that the fear was specific to furry objects.
What long-term effects did the study suggest regarding conditioned emotional responses?
-The study suggested that conditioned emotional responses, such as fear, can persist over time and may modify personality. Although the intensity of the fear response lessened, it did not disappear within a month.
What was one major ethical issue raised by the study?
-A major ethical issue was that Albert was removed from the hospital before any deconditioning could take place, meaning his conditioned fear response was never reversed. This raised concerns about the long-term effects of leaving conditioned emotional responses untreated.
Outlines
🐶 Conditioned Emotional Responses Explained
This paragraph introduces the concept of conditioned emotional responses, using the example of someone being bitten by a dog in childhood and feeling anxious around dogs as an adult. It explains that this reaction is an example of a conditioned emotional response, a key focus of Watson and Rayner’s study.
🧪 Watson and Rayner's Emotional Conditioning Experiment
Watson and Rayner aimed to test if emotional responses like fear, rage, or love could be conditioned. They outlined four key research questions for their experiment involving a participant named Albert B: Can fear be conditioned? Can conditioned responses transfer to other stimuli? How does time affect the conditioned response? What methods can remove a conditioned emotional response?
👶 Albert B. and the Initial Stimulus Introduction
The experiment began with Albert B. at nine months old. He was introduced to neutral stimuli, such as animals, without showing fear. Then, a steel bar was struck behind his head, eliciting a fear response. This served as the unconditioned stimulus (steel bar) and the unconditioned response (crying).
🐁 Conditioning Fear with a White Rat
At 11 months, Albert was shown a white rat (neutral stimulus), and when he reached for it, the researchers struck the steel bar again. This conditioned Albert to associate the rat with fear. When shown the rat later, he hesitated and exhibited fear without the bar being struck, demonstrating a conditioned emotional response.
🐇 Furry Objects and the Spread of Conditioned Fear
Albert’s fear extended to other furry objects like fur coats, cotton wool, and dogs. This demonstrated the transferability of conditioned responses to stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus. Albert did not show fear towards blocks, confirming the association with furry objects rather than all objects.
📉 Persistence of Conditioned Responses Over Time
Conditioned emotional responses persisted in Albert for over a month, though the intensity of fear lessened over time. The study concluded that fear responses can be conditioned at an early age and persist or even increase with repeated exposure.
🚫 Lack of Deconditioning and Long-Term Implications
The study's major flaw was the absence of deconditioning. Albert was removed from the hospital before deconditioning could be attempted, leaving him with lasting conditioned emotional responses. The researchers noted that such responses could modify personality throughout life.
👶 Thumb Sucking and Freud's Erogenous Zones
An incidental observation was Albert's use of thumb-sucking to cope with fear, which the researchers compared to Freud's theory of erogenous zones that can block fear responses when stimulated.
📊 Real-World Application of Emotional Conditioning
The researchers concluded that many phobias in psychopathology are conditioned emotional reactions, either directly or through transfer. This study became foundational for understanding phobias in clinical settings.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Conditioned Emotional Response
💡Unconditioned Stimulus
💡Neutral Stimulus
💡Classical Conditioning
💡Transfer of Conditioned Response
💡Unconditioned Response
💡Conditioned Stimulus
💡Phobia
💡Deconditioning
💡Observational Techniques
Highlights
Watson and Rayner explored conditioning emotional responses like fear, rage, or love through experimental methods.
The study focused on a participant named Albert B, examining if fear could be conditioned by associating an animal with a startling noise.
At 9 months old, Albert was shown neutral stimuli and did not exhibit any fear responses.
The steel bar, acting as the unconditioned stimulus, elicited a fear reaction (crying) when struck behind Albert's head.
At 11 months, Albert began associating a white rat (neutral stimulus) with the loud noise, resulting in a conditioned emotional response of fear.
Albert's fear response transferred to other furry objects, including a rabbit, fur coat, cotton wool, a dog, and a Santa beard.
The experiment suggested that conditioned emotional responses can generalize across various similar stimuli.
Albert did not display fear towards neutral stimuli like blocks, indicating a control mechanism in the experiment.
Conditioned emotional responses in Albert persisted for over a month, though the intensity decreased with time.
The study concluded that conditioned fear can increase over time with repeated exposure, impacting behavior long-term.
A limitation of the study was the lack of deconditioning, leaving Albert with unresolved conditioned emotional responses.
The researchers indicated that these emotional responses can affect personality development throughout life.
Incidental observations noted Albert's thumb sucking as a coping mechanism, compared to Freud's theory of erogenous zones blocking fear.
The study laid the groundwork for understanding phobias as conditioned emotional reactions, either direct or transferred.
This experiment offered insights into the systematic study of phobias and their clinical treatment in psychopathology.
Transcripts
my research article was condition
emotional reactions by watson
and raynor
suppose you were bitten by a dog when
you were younger as an adult you may
feel uneasy nervous or anxious around
talks
this is an example of a conditioned
emotional response
in this classical study watson and
rayner were interested in the
possibility of conditioning various
types of emotional responses
like fear rage or love and decide to
test this idea experimentally
this experiment was done with a
participant named albert b
the researchers wanted to find the
answers to four questions through this
experiment
one can we condition fear by
simultaneously presenting an animal and
striking a steel bar
two can the conditioned emotional
response transfer to other animals or
objects three what effect does time have
on the conditioned emotional response
4 what laboratory methods can remove
such an emotional response if over time
they have not died out
the researchers use observational
techniques to record data
as shown in my slide at nine months
albert was shown a series of stimuli
which was neutral and he didn't show any
signs of fear
a steel bar which was the unconditioned
stimulus
was struck three times behind albert's
head which elicited a scared reaction
which was the unconditioned response
from albert which was crying
in order to establish the conditioned
emotional response the researchers
combined the two stimuli
when albert was 11 months old a white
rat which was the neutral
stimulus was shown to him and just when
he reached for the rat a steel bar was
struck
which was the unconditioned response
behind his head
albert showed a fear reaction a week
later when albert was shown
the rat which was the conditioned
stimulus he was hesitant to touch it
and after they performed the same
experimental procedure
again albert showed a fear reaction
which was the conditioned response
after using the steel bar to be
associated with the sight and feeling of
furry objects
albert showed an emotional response to
all fuzzy and furry
objects as shown in my slide what was
found was
that the feeling in sight of a fur coat
cotton wool
rabbit sand to beard and dog which was
the conditioned stimuli
all listed the same fear emotional
response
or condition response in alber the
emotional response to all furry objects
suggested that the number of transfers
from a condition emotional response
may be very large the researchers also
use blocks
which was the neutral stimulus as a
control an albert never showed
an emotional fear response to the blocks
and always played with them
readily this experiment as a whole
showed that over time conditioned
emotional responses persist
for longer than a month although the
intensity of the fear responds lessens
over time
the researchers concluded that humans
can be easily triggered to respond
with fear at an early age and increases
over time with repeated exposure
a major problem with the study was that
albert was taken from the hospital
and not the condition no deconditioning
was ever
executed this is problematic because
conditioned emotional responses
and transfers persist and modify our
personality throughout life
according to these researchers
conclusions another
noteworthy finding was albert's coping
mechanism of thumb sucking
found in the incidental observation
section
the researchers compared this thumb
sucking to freud's idea of
erogenous zones that can block
fear-producing stimuli
when stimulated a real world application
was that the researchers also determined
that many phobias in psychopathology
are true condition emotional reactions
either
of the direct or the transfer type this
was a starting point for understanding
phobias in a clinical and systematic way
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