PSY 181 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Mary Cover Jones, Little Albert Experiment, Joseph Wolpe

• School: University of Rochester
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 181
• Professor: C H R I S T O P H E R N I E M I E C

Document Summary

John watson: spokesperson for behaviorism in america. He believed human behavior was changeable given the correct conditions in the environment. Watson suggested that psychology focus only on behavior because only behavior can be observed and studied objectively. He suggested that psychology ban all references to consciousness, including personality, thoughts, beliefs, etc. , because these things are epiphenomenal (they stand outside of the causal chain that leads to behavior) Little albert experiment: this little boy never cried and was not easily scared; emotionally solid. Watson wanted to show that emotions could be conditioned in a child. Infants can learn to fear previously unfeared objects. Albert originally liked the rat until it was paired with the banging noise. Generalization: albert"s fear of white rats generalized to any white furry object. Albert cried whenever he saw the white rat, even without the banging noise. Behaviorist sees no dividing line between animal and man.