Note: This cruel experiment would not be acceptable by current ethical standards. ![]() Later on, when the rat was presented without the aversive sound, Little Albert had involuntary fear responses, such as falling over, crying, and crawling away from the rat. After repeating this procedure several times in the conditioning session, little Albert came to fear the rat itself. The baby was startled violently and broke into a sudden crying fit. The goal was to condition a baby named “Little Albert” with fear of a white rat.Īt first, Little Albert was not afraid of rats. In the experiment, after Watson presented the rat, he made a loud, aversive noise by striking a hammer on a suspended steel bar to generate a fear response in Little Albert. In the 1920s, psychologists John Watson and Rosalie Rayner devised one of the most documented fear-conditioning experiments 5. The fear conditioning paradigm is the epitome of this form of associative learning. In humans, learning the associations between aversive events and the environmental stimuli that predict such events is an essential survival skill. This reaction to the conditioned stimulus is a conditioned response (CR). The conditional stimulus could then trigger the dogs to salivate involuntarily. However, after repeatedly ringing the bell before bringing food, an unconditioned stimulus (US), hearing the bell became a conditioned stimulus (CS). The dogs associated the bells with being fed.īefore conditioning, the bell was a neutral stimulus (NS) that did not trigger a response in the dogs. Eventually, though, just hearing the bell caused the dogs to salivate. ![]() In the beginning, the dogs did not react to the bells. He rang a bell shortly before presenting food to the dogs. Over time, they began salivating slightly before the food arrived when they heard the sound of approaching food carts. Initially, the dogs would only salivate when food was presented. In his research on the digestive systems of dogs, he noticed a subtle change in the dogs’ responses to food over time. Pavlov, stumbled upon classical conditioning by accident. Classical ConditioningĬlassical conditioning, also known as Pavlovian conditioning, is learning through the association of a neutral stimulus with a biologically potent stimulus 1. Conditional fear can be powerful and long-lasting for some individuals. In evolution, this form of associative fear learning plays a critical role in our survival from future threats 3.Īlthough meant to be a survival mechanism, unchecked conditioned fear may contribute to disorders of fear and anxiety in humans, resulting in panic disorder, phobias, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 4. ![]() It is the mechanism we learn to fear people, objects, places, and events that are aversive such as an electric shock. The fear that results from this association is a conditioned response.įear conditioning is a form of classical conditioning. Fear conditioning refers to learning a certain environmental stimulus (conditioned stimulus) can predict the occurrence of an aversive stimulus (neutral stimulus) 2.
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