The Conditioning Of Fear By John B. Watson - 915 Words

The Conditioning of Fear John B. Watson was an American psychologist who established behaviorism. He assumed that psychology should study only objective behavior due to the conscience or psyche aspect being difficult to measure. Watson stated that psychology’s â€Å"theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior† (Clavijo 379). Watson believed that â€Å"conditioning procedure† would contribute to analyzing the â€Å"conscious† (Hall 186). In other words, behavior is the relationship between thoughts and physical responses. Watson developed an experiment to demonstrate that fears could be conditioned through a process involving classical conditioning. He was doing his research on conditioning or instilling fear in humans. The goal of his experiment was to predict and control behavior. Watson began conducting research with children at John Hopkins Hospital and got the opportunity to study infant behavior and responses. To demonstrate that behaviorism could be measurable, Watson decided to see if fear could be conditioned. In 1920, Watson began his most famous experiment, known as the Little Albert experiment. Albert was 11 months old and selected because of his temperament and â€Å"lack of fear† for most things (Green). He was described as a stable infant who rarely displayed fear of anything. He was not afraid of animals, including the white laboratory rat. He was, however, afraid of loud noises. Watson decided to utilize his natural fear of loud noises in his experiment. HeShow MoreRelatedThe Little Albert Experiment By John B. Watson997 Words   |  4 Pages One important experiment that was significant in the field was the â€Å"Little Albert Experiment† by John B. Watson. John B. Watson was a behaviorist where he wanted to conduct an experiment that further Ivan Pavlov research on classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a theory engages a new behavior through the process of association. This theory includes three stages of classical conditioning; the first stage is called unconditioned stimulus, which produces an unconditioned response withinRead MoreReview Of The Little Albert Experiment 1093 Words   |  5 PagesSection #2 NetID: meberry John Watson and Classical Conditioning In psychology, respondent behavior is behavior learned through classical conditioning. This type of learning is defined as a way in which one learns to link two or more stimuli while also anticipating events; or other wise, known as a kind of learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus. While classical conditioning was accidently discovered by Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson was interested in takingRead MoreHow Two Incredibly Innovative Behavior Theorists During Their Time Were By John B. Watson1014 Words   |  5 Pagestime were, John B. Watson, and B. F. Skinner. The spark of the behaviorism movement began after Watson published the classic article Psychology as the behaviorist views it in 1913 (McLeod, 2004). John B. Watson’s prestigious career began in 1903 when he learned his doctorate degree in psychology with a minor in philosophy. Soon after Watson was hired as an instructor at the same place he earned his doctorate degree, the University of Chicago (Watson, 1999). A mere year later, Watson was hired asRead MoreJohn Broadus Watson : The Son Of Emma And Pickens Watson1007 Words   |  5 PagesJohn Broadus Watson was born near Greenville, South Carolina on January 9, 1878. He was the son of Emma and Pickens Watson. In the year 1891, John and the rest of his family was left behind by his father, complicating everything. Given the situations that his family was very poor, everything then became different for them. Since his father left his family, Watson held a long-life resentment towards him. He had hatred told his father for a long time for abandoning him. As a young child, John BroadusRead MoreThe Theory Of Classical Conditioning1360 Words   |  6 PagesIs it possible to r ouse fear from a stimulus that at first caused no such response? Classical conditioning is a type of learning where a response is produced from combining a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to produce an unconditioned response. Ivan Pavlov did a famous study, pairing the sound of a bell with food to produce salivation. After a while, just the sound alone would produce salivation. â€Å"Little Albert†, an infant that belonged to a wet nurse at the Harriet Lane HomeRead MoreJohn B. Watson s Theory Of Psychology1048 Words   |  5 PagesJohn B. Watson was a great American psychologist whose theories, publications, and experiments had an enduring influence on psychology. Possibly his biggest contributions to psychology were his theory of behaviorism and his experiment on Little Albert. Though Watson’s experiments were extremely unethical and behaviorism doesn’t account for biological psychology, Watson was an extremely remarkable psychologist beca use of his principal of behaviorism and his findings on classical conditioning. BackgroundRead MorePsychological Conditioning On Alcoholic s Anonymous1282 Words   |  6 PagesPsychological Conditioning in Alcoholic’s Anonymous James M. Vrionis College of the Desert Intro to Psychology 12/3/2013 Psychological Conditioning in Alcoholic’s Anonymous 1 Psychological Conditioning in Alcoholic’s Anonymous James M. Vrionis College of the Desert Addiction to drugs and alcohol has changed the lives of millions of Americans. According to Alcoholics Anonymous: Addiction will play tricks on the mind, forcing it to get stuck in an emotional andRead MoreThe Little Albert Experiment, By John B. Watson And Mary Cover Jones Hope973 Words   |  4 PagesEveryone has a fear, but the question is, how did that fear come to be? Can you cure fear? These are some of the questions that John B. Watson and Mary Cover Jones hope to answer The little Albert Experiment According to Schultz and Schultz (2012), the little Albert Experiment was an example of stimulus generalization. This experiment was conducted by John B. Watson and his graduate student Rosalie Rayner, at Johns Hopkins University. John B. Watson showed evidence of Classical conditioning in his experimentRead MoreBehaviorism And Classical Conditioning And Operant Conditioning Essay1504 Words   |  7 Pagesscenarios for different research purposes. Biographical information will be provided about the founders of the theory who are John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. However, the information will focus more on their early education and known achievements. Furthermore, you will find different theories regarding behaviorism such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning. In order to understand the difference and similarities between the two of them examples have been provided. To fully comprehendRead MoreClassical Vs. Classical Conditioning1095 Words   |  5 PagesClassical Co nditioning In this paper, Classical Conditioning is explored by first giving a general definition along with the general phases of basic classical conditioning. Then, more insight is given about the developers of this learning process and their experiments: Ivan Pavlov and his dog experiment and John B. Watson and Little Albert experiment. Finally, real-world applications of this learning process are introduced such as how to treat phobias, addictions and achieve good classroom behavior