To cite another classic "origin," the Army's psychological testing program during World War I is taken by some clinical psychologists as an early example of how the profession of psychology has always grown in relation to its increased usefulness. However, it has recently been shown that World War I intelligence testing was of little practical use at the time Samelson, In reviewing these classic studies or origin myths in psychology, it should be emphasized that this myth-making process is not anyone's attempt to defraud the public.
Instead, it arises ' as largely a byproduct of pedagogy: as a means to elucidate the concepts of a scientific specialty, to establish its tradition, and to attract students" Samelson, , p. As Samelson noted, the major difficulty with such reevaluations of classic studies is that they obscure the actual factors that determine the course of scientific research.
The answer is beyond the scope of this study, since it involves much more than an evaluation of the Albert study. In addition to the study's reliance on only one subject, the experimental stimuli were insufficient to test for generalization effects, the observers' accounts were too subjective, and the technology did not exist to permit reliable assessment of emotional responses see Sherman, ; there was insufficient follow-up and there was a confounding of instrumental and classical conditioning paradigms see Footnote 3.
These methodological flaws were also apparent to critical reviewers of the day e. However, they are worth emphasizing here because of continuing attempts to integrate the study into the early conditioning literature e.
It may be useful for modern learning theorists to see how the Albert study prompted subsequent research i. The author also thanks Bill Woodward and Ernest Hilgard for their comments on earlier versions of this work.
Unfortunately, there is no hard evidence of exactly when the Albert study was completed. Watson and Rayner's original report was published in the February Journal of Experimental Psychology, suggesting that the research was completed in Also, M. Jones , Note 2 remembers that Watson lectured about Albert as early as the spring of and showed a film of his work with infants at the Johns Hopkins University Watson, a.
Since the work with Albert lasted for approximately 4 months, there seems to be a strong possibility that Watson 's prediction was not entirely based on theoretical speculation. Interested readers should consult these articles for lists of additional textbook errors. For example, Larson and Reese and Lipsitt cited a paper by R. Church Note 3 on this point see also Kazdin, Such an interpretation is apparently based on Watson's notes indicating that at least for the first two trials, the loud noise was contingent on Albert's active response i.
The attractiveness of an aversive instrumental model of Albert's conditioning is that it would not necessarily predict any emotional reaction by Albert and would help explain his reluctance to touch the experimental animals. Strong support for this model is lacking, however, with Watson and Rayner describing at least four conditioning trials on which the loud sound was not contingent on Albert's instrumental response, and a number of trials the character of which is uncertain.
Kuhn here. Samelson, F. Reactions to Watson's behaviorism: The early years. Jones, M. Personal communication, April 1, Church, R. The role of fear in punishment.
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Baltimore, Md. Kennedy, W. Child psychology 2nd ed. Kisker, G. The disorganized personality 3rd ed. Kleinmuntz, B. Essentials of abnormal psychology. Koch S. Psychology and emerging conceptions of knowledge as unitary. Wann Ed. A parallel world without a conditioning theory of fear Had the seeds of conditioning as an explanation of fear been left to die, it would have been a great disservice to both theory and practice in child clinical psychology.
Recent research into the psychological effects of natural disasters highlights instances where the basic idea of fear conditioning has been well replicated. Recently, work in children has also demonstrated reliable conditioned fear responses in the laboratory Craske et al. This body of research shows that conditioning is a mechanism through which fears develop; it is a well-replicated phenomenon across a variety of methodologies.
Had researchers not picked up the baton of conditioning from Watson and Rayner, models of the aetiology of anxiety would look very different. Rachman, , advancements in conditioning theory have seen many of these criti- cisms addressed and conditioning remains a viable and useful framework in which to conceptualize the prevention, development and treatment of anxiety Field, In the world where Albert escaped, models of the aetiology of anxiety would undoubtedly be very different, but would this be a good or bad thing?
A parallel world without conditioning-based treatments The measure of a theory is perhaps its use in the real world and one of the reasons why conditioning has remained popular as a theoretical framework for anxiety is because of the undoubted success of therapies for anxiety based on conditioning principles.
Many of these principles were pre-empted by Watson and Rayner nearly a century ago. Recall that in their paper Watson and Rayner pre-empted exposure, systematic desensitization and modelling as therapeutic tools. Since then, countless studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of conditioning-based interventions across all anxiety disorders.
In children, cognitive behavioural therapies appear to be successful in treating anxiety also Cartwright-Hatton, Roberts, Chitsabesan,. The few studies that have tested the agents of therapeutic change seem to suggest that exposure with or without cognitive interventions is better than cognitive interventions alone Hudson, When Davis and Ollendick broke treatments down into their cognitive, behavioural and physiological components, it was the behavioural i.
Implicit in their attack was that theories and treatments should be taken seriously only if they survive empirical scrutiny. It is from the ashes of this backlash that successful exposure-based therapies arose, and were put to the scientific test. So, we believe that in a parallel world in which Albert had escaped, treatments for anxiety would not be exposure-based and would rely on techniques the efficacies of which were not tested empirically.
In which case, this parallel world would lack many of the highly successful, quick and economical interventions that our actual world enjoys. If Watson were alive today he might well sum up the parallel universe where Albert escaped as being a world that contained countless people who are needlessly debilitated by their anxiety and who are paying extravagant fees to therapists to discuss their relationships with their mothers!
The world of psychology in our parallel universe in which Albert escaped would certainly be a different, and, in our opinion, worse place than the one that we have. Note 1. Data from the web of knowledge, accessed 15 September References Bouton, M. A modern learning theory perspective on the etiology of panic disorder.
Psychological Review, 1 , 4— Bregman, E. An attempt to modify the emotional attitudes of infants by the conditioned response technique. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 45, — Cartwright-Hatton, S. Systematic review of the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapies for childhood and adolescent anxiety disorders. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43, — Chambless, D. Update on empirically validated therapies, II. The Clinical Psychologist, 51 1 , 3— Craske, M. Is aversive learning a marker of risk for anxiety disorders in children?
Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46 8 , — Davey, G. Classical-Conditioning and the acquisition of human fears and phobias: A review and synthesis of the literature. Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 14 1 , 29— A conditioning model of phobias.
Davey Ed. Davis, T. Empirically supported treatments for specific phobia in children: Do efficacious treatments address the components of a phobic response? Clinical Psychology-Science and Practice, 12 2 , — Delprato, D. Hereditary determinants of fears and phobias: A critical review. Behavior Therapy, 11, 79— Dollinger, S. Lightning-strike disaster among children. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 58 Dec , — Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52 6 , — Ehlers, A.
A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38 4 , — English, H. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 34, — Field, A. Is conditioning a useful framework for understanding the development and treatment of phobias? Clinical Psychology Review, 26 7 , — The interaction of pathways to fear in childhood anxiety: A preliminary study.
Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, — Harris, B. Whatever happened to little Albert? American Psychologist, 34 2 , — Hermans, D. Extinction in human fear conditioning. Biological Psychiatry, 60 4 , — Hudson, J. Mechanisms of change in cognitive behaviour therapy for anxious youth. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 12 2 , — In-Albon, T. Psychotherapy of childhood anxiety disorders: A meta-analysis. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 76 1 , 15— King, N. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36 3 , — Lau, J.
Fear conditioning in adolescents with anxiety disorders: Results from a novel experimental paradigm. Lewis, A. Incidence of neurosis in England under war conditions. The Lancet, , — Lubow, R. A person learns to associate two things when those two things are repeatedly presented together. Remember how Watson presented the white rat to Little Albert, and then immediately banged two pipes together? After pairing the white rat with the scary, loud noise a few times, Little Albert came to react to the white rat as if it were the loud noise - even when the pipes weren't banged together.
He felt fear because he had learned to associate the white rat with loud noise. The way this type of learning takes place is by repeatedly presenting the neutral stimulus in the absence of a scary one. If Watson went on to repeatedly present the white rat without banging the pipes together, Little Albert would no longer associate the two, and the fear induced by the white rat would be gone. Unfortunately, as you may already know from personal experience, classical extinction is a much slower process than classical conditioning.
In other words, an association can be learned very quickly, but can only be unlearned very slowly. Little Albert may have learned to fear the white rat after only a few pairings of the white rat with the loud noise. But in order for him to stop fearing it, the white rat would have to be presented over and over and over again before the association extinguished. Although this presents a modern day challenge, there is evolutionary value to this discrepancy.
Let's think about it for a moment…. The lion is hungry and chases her; she is badly wounded but manages to escape. After this, Lucy would be fearful of lions. Through classical conditioning, lions have become associated with serious injury and threat of death. Now imagine that a few weeks later, Lucy is in the jungle and once again encounters a lion.
This lion has already eaten and is quite sleepy.
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