Editing Little Albert experiment

{{short description|Psychology experiment}}
[[File:Little-albert.jpg|thumb|250px|right|One of a series of published [[unit still photographer|stills]] taken from film of the experiment]]
[[File:Little Albert experiment (1920).webm|250px|thumb|thumbtime=192|The film of the experiment]]
The '''Little Albert experiment''' was an [[Research ethics|unethical]] study that mid-20th century psychologists interpret as [[evidence]] of [[classical conditioning]] in humans. The study is also claimed to be an example of [[Conditioned taste aversion#Stimulus generalization|stimulus generalization]] although reading the research report demonstrates that fear did not generalize by color or tactile qualities.<ref>Harris, B. (1979). "Whatever happened to little Albert?" ''American Psychologist'', 34(2), 151–160</ref> It was carried out by [[John B. Watson]] and his graduate student, [[Rosalie Rayner]], at [[Johns Hopkins University]]. The results were first published in the February 1920 issue of the ''[[Journal of Experimental Psychology]]''.

After observing children in the field, Watson hypothesized that the fearful response of children to loud noises is an innate unconditioned response. He wanted to test the notion that by following the principles of the procedure now known as "classical conditioning", he could use this unconditioned response to condition a child to fear a distinctive stimulus that normally would not be feared by a child (in this case, furry objects).<ref name="How the Challenge of Explaining Learning Influenced the Origins and Development of John B. Watson's Behaviorism"/>  However, he admitted in his research article that the fear he generated was neither strong nor lasting.

==Method==
The aim of Watson and Rayner was to condition a [[phobia]] in an emotionally stable child.<ref>Hill, G. (2009). ''AS & A Level Psychology Through Diagrams'', p. 27.</ref> For this study, they chose a nine-month-old infant from a hospital. The child was referred to as "Albert" for the experiment.<ref>Watson & Rayner, 1920, p. 1</ref> Watson followed the procedures which [[Ivan Pavlov]] had used in his experiments with dogs.<ref name="Watson" />

Before the experiment, Albert was given a battery of baseline emotional tests: the infant was exposed, briefly and for the first time, to a white rat, a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, masks (with and without hair), cotton, wool, burning newspapers, and other [[Stimulus (psychology)|stimuli]]. Albert showed no fear of any of these items during the baseline tests.

For the experiment proper, by which point Albert was 11 months old, he was put on a mattress on a table in the middle of a room. 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. After several such pairings of the two stimuli, Albert was presented with only the rat. Upon seeing the rat, Albert became very distressed, crying and crawling away. Apparently, the infant associated the white rat with the noise. The rat, originally a [[neutral stimulus]], had become a conditioned stimulus and was eliciting an emotional (conditional) response similar to the distress (unconditioned response) originally given to the noise (unconditioned stimulus).<ref name="Schwartz" />

In further experiments, Little Albert seemed to [[generalize]] his response to the white rat. He became distressed at the sight of several other furry objects, such as a rabbit, a furry dog, a seal-skin coat, and even a [[Santa Claus]] mask with white cotton balls in the beard. However, this stimulus generalization did not extend to everything with hair.<ref name="Schwartz" />

Watson's experiment had many failings by modern standards.<ref name="Harris, B" /> For example, it had only a single subject and no [[control variable|control subjects]]. Furthermore, such an experiment could be hard to conduct in compliance with current laws and regulations, given the expected risks to the subject.

==Subsequent events==

Albert was about one year old at the end of the experiment, and he reportedly left the hospital shortly thereafter.<ref>Hill, p. 177.</ref> Though Watson had discussed what might be done to remove Albert's conditioned fears, he chose not to attempt such desensitization with Albert, and it is thought likely that the infant's fear of furry things continued postexperimentally.<ref>(Harris, 1979).</ref>

Watson later gave a series of weekend lectures describing the Little Albert study. One of these lectures was attended by [[Mary Cover Jones]], which sparked her interest in pursuing graduate work in psychology. Jones conducted an experiment to figure out how to eliminate fear responses in children and studied a boy named Peter, who was two years old. Peter shared similar fears of white rabbits and furry objects as Little Albert. Jones was able to increase Peter's tolerance of white rabbits by exposing him to the animal at gradually shorter distances and having Peter interact with children who were not afraid of the rabbit.<ref>Cover Jones, M. (1924). "A laboratory study of fear: the case of Peter". ''Pedagogical Seminary, 31''(4), 308–315. {{doi|10.1080/08856559.1924.9944851}}</ref> Watson is listed in the publication of the study as advisor and editor. Mary Cover Jones was the first psychologist to desensitize, or decondition, a fear response and become known as the "Mother of Behavior Therapy".<ref name="Rutherford" />

==Identifying Little Albert==
According to some textbooks,{{Example needed|date=June 2022}} Albert's mother worked in the same building as Watson and did not know the tests were being conducted. When she found out, she took Albert and moved away, letting no one know where they were going. A 2009 report, however, disputes that.<ref name="Levinson, S. pp.605">H. P.; Levinson, S., & Irons, G.; 2009; pp. 605–614"</ref> The original report had stated that the baby's mother was a [[wet nurse]] at the hospital, who may have felt [[coerced]] and unable to turn down a request for her baby to be used in Watson's experiment.  The claim of coercion was challenged in an article published in the same journal as the coercion claim.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

===Douglas Merritte===
In 2009, psychologists Hall P. Beck and Sharman Levinson published an article in which they claimed to have discovered the true identity of "Albert B."<ref name="Beck, Levinson & Irons" /> After reviewing Watson's correspondence and publications, as well as research in public documents (such as the [[1920 United States Census]] and state birth and death records), Beck argued that "Albert B." was a pseudonym for Douglas Merritte, the son of Arvilla Merritte, then a woman who appears to have been a wet nurse at the Harriet Lane Home.<ref name="Beck, Levinson & Irons" />

It was later found that Douglas Merritte had [[hydrocephalus]], from which he died at the age of 6. With this condition, which is an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid on the brain, Merritte may have had severe trouble seeing at the time of the experiment, and this disputes the claim that the child in question was average and healthy.<ref name="Levinson, S. pp.605"/> According to researchers who looked at this case years later, if Douglas Merritte was, indeed, Little Albert, his actions during the conditioning sessions align with signs of neurological impairment.<ref>{{cite web |last1=DeAngelis |first1=T. |title=Was 'Little Albert' ill during the famed conditioning study? |url=https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/03/little-albert |website=www.apa.org |publisher=American Psychological Association |access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref> This includes Little Albert's use of hand-scooping, rather than grasping gestures typical of this age, as well as poor eye-scanning abilities and his lack of facial expressions. Other research has argued, however, that Douglas Merritte may not have been "Little Albert",<ref name="Correcting" /> who may, in fact, have been young Albert Barger (known later as William Albert Martin).<ref name="Correcting" /><ref name="Digdon" />

===Albert Barger===
The identity claimed by Beck, et al., has been contested by psychology researchers Russ Powell, Nancy Digdon and Ben Harris, who offer an alternative identity based on available data.<ref name="Correcting" /><ref name="Digdon" /> Albert Barger had been born within a day of Merritte, and his mother had also worked at the hospital where the experiment was conducted. In addition, his body weight and developmental condition closely matched the experiment's documentation of the subject baby's condition.<ref name="Search" /> Moreover, according to Watson and Rayner (1920), Little Albert was 12 months and 21 days the last day of the experiment when "he was taken from the hospital" (p. 12), the exact age Albert Barger had been when he left the hospital.<ref>Powell, et al., 2014, p. 603</ref> Finally, when Powell et al. were allowed to independently verify Douglas Merritte's clinical file, it was revealed that he was "completely blind",<ref>Powell, et al., 2014, p. 607</ref> which is at odds with the experiment's films where Little Albert engages in probable instances of object-directed action and social referencing. 

Through the use of a professional genealogist, the researchers learned Barger had died in 2007 at age 87 and identified one close living relative, a niece. In an interview, Barger's niece stated that she and her uncle had been quite close throughout his life, and acknowledged Barger's antipathy toward dogs as a well-known fact that family members, particularly his wife, would tease him about (the researchers noted there was no way to determine whether or not this behavior was linked to Watson's experiment). She also informed researchers of her uncle's aversion to animals in general, not just dogs. Though it was not a particularly strong aversion, family members would often have to keep their dogs in a separate room when he visited.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Powell |first1=Russell A. |last2=Digdon |first2=Nancy |last3=Harris |first3=Ben |last4=Smithson |first4=Christopher |title=Correcting the record on Watson, Rayner, and Little Albert: Albert Barger as "Psychology's lost boy". |url=https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0036854 |journal=[[American Psychologist]] |publisher=American Psychological Association |pages=600–611 |doi=10.1037/a0036854 |date=2014|volume=69 |issue=6 |pmid=25197838 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Outside of this, Barger's niece stated that she did not recall any other phobias he may have had. The researchers concluded that Barger would have been unaware of his role as an infant test subject.<ref name="Whatever" />

==Ethical considerations==
The experiment today would be considered unethical according to the [[American Psychological Association]]'s ethic code, and legislation has been passed to prevent such potentially harmful experiments.<ref name="Regulation" /> In the early 1970s, following widely publicized cases of research abuse, the [[National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research]] (NCPHS) was created to study issues surrounding the protection of humans in research.<ref name="Regulation" /> In 1979, the Commission issued a report entitled ''Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research'' (commonly called the ''[[Belmont Report]]''), which provided the ethical framework on which current federal regulations for the protection of human participants in research are based.<ref>American Psychological Association; 2013.</ref><ref>[[National Institute of Health]]</ref> Under the NCPHS standards set in the late 1970s, an experiment such as Watson's would not have been allowed.<ref>American Psychological Association; 2013</ref><ref name="NOTE1" /> Research with participants is also regulated by the [[Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996]] and the [[Public Health Service Act]]. In addition, training of researchers in the use of human participants has been required by the [[National Institutes of Health]] since 2000.<ref name="Regulation" />

==Criticisms==
A detailed review of the original study and its subsequent interpretations by Ben Harris (1979)<ref name="Arc-Whatever" /> stated:
{{blockquote|Critical reading of Watson and Rayner's (1920) report reveals little evidence either that Albert developed a rat [[phobia]] or even that animals consistently evoked his fear (or anxiety) during Watson and Rayner's experiment.  It may be useful for modern learning theorists to see how the Albert study prompted subsequent research ... but it seems time, finally, to place the Watson and Rayner data in the category of "interesting but uninterpretable" results.}}

It is difficult to be certain exactly what happened during the Little Albert experiment since concrete evidence and scientific records are lacking. Though a film was shot during the experiment, textbooks interpret the movie differently. Various sources give contradicting accounts of events that took place, and they raise questions about exactly what stimuli were used, which stimuli the baby came to fear, and what happened to the child after the experiment. It was said that most textbooks "suffer from inaccuracies of various degrees" while referring to Watson and Rayner's study. Texts often misrepresent, exaggerate, or minimize the range of Albert's post-conditioning fears.<ref>Harris, 2011, 10</ref>

Other criticisms stem from the health of the child (cited as Douglas Merritte) who was not a "healthy", "normal" infant as claimed in the study, but one who was very ill and had exhibited symptoms of [[hydrocephalus]] since birth—according to relatives he never learned to walk or talk later in life. The child would die five years after the experiment due to complications from the congenital disease. It is stated that the study's authors were aware of the child's severe cognitive deficit, abnormal behavior, and unusually frequent crying, but continued to terrify the sick infant and generalize their findings to healthy infants, an act criticized as academic fraud.<ref name="Bartlett" /><ref name="HoPsych" /> These accusations were successfully challenged in the same journals that published the initial claims.  The articles refuting the "sick baby" claim explain that the child was actually William (called Albert by his family) Barger, and that the child was, in fact, healthy.<ref name="Digdon" />

==Notes==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Schwartz">Steven Schwartz; ''Classic Studies in Psychology;'' Palo Alto: Mayfield Publishing,1986; print.</ref>
<ref name="Beck, Levinson & Irons">{{cite journal | last1=Beck|first1=H. P.|last2=Levinson|first2=S.|last3=Irons|first3=G.| year=2009| title=Finding Little Albert: A journey to John B. Watson's infant laboratory| journal=[[American Psychologist]] |volume=64 |issue=7 |pages=605–614 | doi=10.1037/a0017234 | pmid=19824748| url=http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Beck_Hall_2009_Finding_Little_Albert.pdf}}</ref>
<ref name="Correcting">{{cite journal |last2=Digdon |first2=Nancy |last1=Powell |first1=Russell A.|last3=Harris |first3=Ben|last4=Smithson |first4=Christopher| date=2014 |title=Correcting the record on Watson, Rayner, and Little Albert: Albert Barger as "Psychology's lost boy" |journal=[[American Psychologist]] |volume=69 |issue=6 |pages=600–611 |doi=10.1037/a0036854 |pmid=25197838 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1405620}}</ref>
<ref name="Digdon">{{cite journal | last1=Digdon |first1=Nancy |last2=Powell |first2=Russell A.|last3=Harris |first3=Ben |date=2014 |title=Little Albert's Alleged Neurologicial Impairment: Watson, Rayner, and Historical Revision |journal=[[History of Psychology]] |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=312–324 |doi=10.1037/a0037325 |pmid=25068585}}</ref>
<ref name="Search">{{cite web | url=http://chronicle.com/article/The-Search-for-Psychologys/146747/ | publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education | last=Bartlett| first= T. |date=June 2, 2014 | title= The Search for Psychology's Lost Boy: In 2009 the Decades-old Mystery of 'Little Albert' was Finally Solved ... or Was It?}}</ref>
<ref name="Regulation">[https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/index.html ''The Belmont Report – Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research — Regulations and Policy'']</ref>
<ref name="Watson">"Anyone{{snd}}Regardless of Their Nature{{snd}}Can Be Trained to Be Anything"; Watson, John B.; ''Big Ideas Simply Explained: The Psychology Book.'' London: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc., 2012, {{ISBN?}}</ref>
<ref name="Harris, B">{{Cite web|url=http://users.sussex.ac.uk/~grahamh/RM1web/Classic%20papers/Harris1979.pdf|title=Harris, B. (1979). Whatever happened to little Albert. American Psychologist, 34(2), 151-160.|website=users.sussex.ac.uk|accessdate=June 12, 2023}}</ref>
<ref name="Rutherford">{{Cite web|url=http://www.feministvoices.com/mary-cover-jones/|title=Rutherford, Alexandra. "Mary Cover Jones". Psychology's Feminist Voices|website=www.feministvoices.com|accessdate=June 12, 2023}}</ref>
<ref name="Whatever">{{cite news | url=http://www.macewan.ca/wcm/MacEwanNews/WHAT_HAPPENED_TO_LITTLE_ALBERT| title=Whatever Happened to Little Albert?| date=June 2, 2014| publisher=MacEwan University News| access-date=August 30, 2014| location=Edmonton, Alberta}}</ref>
<ref name="NOTE1">Note: It is now considered unethical to evoke reactions of fear in humans under laboratory circumstances, except when the participant has given informed consent to being purposely horrified as part of the experiment. The standards dictate that experiments should not cause the human participants to suffer unnecessary distress or to be in any way physically harmed. The welfare of the human participants must always be the paramount consideration in any form of research, and this is especially true with specially protected groups such as [[children]].</ref>
<ref name="Arc-Whatever">{{cite web | url = http://htpprints.yorku.ca/archive/00000198/01/BHARRIS.HTM | title = Whatever Happened to Little Albert? | author = Ben Harris | access-date = 30 August 2010 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120803155410/http://htpprints.yorku.ca/archive/00000198/01/BHARRIS.HTM | archive-date = 3 August 2012}}</ref>
<ref name="Bartlett">{{cite web|last1=Bartlett|first1=Tom|title=A New Twist in the Sad Saga of Little Albert|url=http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/a-new-twist-in-the-sad-saga-of-little-albert/28423|website=chronicle.com|publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education|access-date=8 June 2017}}</ref>
<ref name="HoPsych">{{cite journal|last1=Fridlund|first1=Alan J.|last2=Beck|first2=Hall P.|last3=Goldie|first3=William D.|last4=Irons|first4=Gary|title=Little Albert: A neurologically impaired child|journal=[[History of Psychology]]|date=November 2012|volume=15|issue=4|pages=302–327|doi=10.1037/a0026720|pmid=23397921}}</ref>
<ref name="How the Challenge of Explaining Learning Influenced the Origins and Development of John B. Watson's Behaviorism">{{Cite journal |last=Rilling |first=Mark |date=Summer 2000 |title=How the Challenge of Explaining Learning Influenced the Origins and Development of John B. Watson's Behaviorism |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/1423731 |journal=American Journal of Psychology |volume=113 |issue=2 |pages=275–301 |doi=10.2307/1423731 |jstor=1423731|pmid=10862345 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
}}

==References==
* American Psychological Association (2010). [http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.]
* {{cite web | url=http://chronicle.com/article/The-Search-for-Psychologys/146747/ | publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education | last=Bartlett| first= T. |date=June 2, 2014 | title= The Search for Psychology's Lost Boy: In 2009 the Decades-old Mystery of 'Little Albert' was Finally Solved... or Was It?}}
* Bartlett, T. (2012). [http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/a-new-twist-in-the-sad-saga-of-little-albert/28423 A New Twist in the Sad Saga of Little Albert.]
* {{cite journal | last1 = Cover Jones | first1 = M | year = 1924 | title = A Laboratory Study of Fear: The Case of Peter | url = http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Jones/ | journal = Pedagogical Seminary | volume = 31 | issue = 4| pages = 308–315 | doi=10.1080/08856559.1924.9944851| url-access = subscription }}
* DeAngelis, T. (2010). [http://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/01/little-albert.aspx 'Little Albert' regains his identity.]  ''Monitor on Psychology, 41, 1''. pp.&nbsp;10.
* {{cite journal|last1=Digdon|first1= Nancy|last2= Powell|first2= Russell A.|last3= Harris|first3= Ben|title= Little Albert's alleged neurological impairment: Watson, Rayner, and Historical Revision|journal= History of Psychology|date= November 2014|pages=312–324|volume=17|issue=4|doi= 10.1037/a0037325 |pmid= 25068585}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Fridlund|first1=A. J.|last2= Beck|first2= H. P.|last3= Goldie|first3= W.D.|last4= Irons|first4= G.|year=2012|title=Little Albert: A neurologically impaired child|journal= History of Psychology|volume=15|issue=4|pages=302–327| doi= 10.1037/a0026720|pmid=23397921}}
* Harris, B. (2014). 'Rosalie Rayner, feminist?" ''Revista de Historia de la Psicología'', 35, 61–69.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Harris | first1 = B | year = 2011 | title = Letting go of Little Albert: Disciplinary memory, history, and the uses of myth | journal = Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences | volume = 47 | issue = 1| pages = 1–17 | doi = 10.1002/jhbs.20470 | pmid=21207487}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Harris | first1 = B | year = 1979 | title = Whatever Happened to Little Albert? | url = http://www.sussex.ac.uk/psychology/documents/harris_-1979.pdf | journal = American Psychologist | volume = 34 | issue = 2 | pages = 151–160 | doi = 10.1037/0003-066x.34.2.151 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090205132626/http://www.sussex.ac.uk/psychology/documents/harris_-1979.pdf | archive-date = 2009-02-05 }}
* Hill, G. (2009). ''AS & A Level Psychology Through Diagrams'', Oxford University Press. {{ISBN?}}{{page?|date=January 2025}}
* Hock, R. (2005). ''Forty Studies That Changed Psychology: Explorations into the History of Psychological Research''. 5th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
* Kasschau, R. (2001). ''Understanding psychology''. Columbus, OH: Glenco/McGraw-Hill.
* National Institute of Health (2000). [http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-00-039.html Required Education in the Protection of Human Research Participants.]
* Powell. R.A., Digdon, N., Harris, B. & Smithson, C. "Correcting the record on Watson, Rayner and Little Albert: Albert Barger as 'Psychology's lost boy.'"  ''American Psychologist''.
* Reiss, B.K. (1990). A biography of Mary Cover Jones. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The Wright Institute, Los Angeles, CA.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Watson | first1 = J.B.|author-link1=John B. Watson | last2 = Rayner | first2 = R. | date= 1920 | title = Conditioned emotional reactions | url = http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/emotion.htm | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology | volume = 3 | issue = 1| pages = 1–14 | doi=10.1037/h0069608| hdl = 21.11116/0000-0001-9171-B| hdl-access = free }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | title=Psychology: Themes & Variations| last=Weiten| first=Wayne| year=2001| page=230 | publisher = Wadsworth Thomson Learning | location = Belmont | isbn = 978-0-534-36714-5 }}

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