Little Albert

Little Albert was a baby who was a test subject for Dr. John B. Watson of Johns Hopkins University in the early 20s. Watson wanted to extend the findings of Pavlov's dog studies to human children. He decided that the best way to do this was to find a baby and train it to fear soft, fluffy things.











The following are notes from the experiment:

Age: 11 months, 3 days

• White rat suddenly taken from the basket and presented to Albert. Just as his hand touched the animal the bar was struck immediately behind his head. The infant jumped violently and fell forward, burying his face in the mattress.
• Just as the right hand touched the rat the bar was again struck. Again the infant jumped violently, fell forward and began to whimper.

Age: 11 months, 10 days

• Rat presented suddenly without sound. When the rat nosed the infant's left hand, the hand was immediately withdrawn. It is thus seen that the two joint stimulations given the previous week were not without effect.
• Joint stimulation. Fell over immediately to right side and began to whimper.
• Rat alone. The instant the rat was shown the baby began to cry. Almost instantly he turned sharply to the left, fell over on left side, raised himself on all fours and began to crawl away so rapidly that he was caught with difficulty before reaching the edge of the table.

Age: 11 months, 15 days

• Rat alone. Whimpered immediately, withdrew right hand and turned head and trunk away.
• Rabbit alone. Negative responses began at once. He leaned as far away from the animal as possible, whimpered, then burst into tears. When the rabbit was placed in contact with him he buried his face in the mattress, then got up on all fours and crawled away.
• Fur coat (seal). Withdrew immediately to the left side and began to fret. Coat put close to him on the left side, he turned immediately, began to cry and tried to crawl away on all fours.
• [A lab assistant] brought the Santa Claus mask and presented it to Albert. He was again pronouncedly negative.

Age: 11 months, 20 days

• Rat alone. Withdrawal of the whole body, bending over to left side, no crying. Fixation and following with eyes. It was thought best to freshen up the reaction by another joint stimulation.
• Just as the rat was placed on his hand the rod was struck. Reaction violent.
• Rabbit alone. Leaned over to left side as far as possible. Began to whimper.
• When the rabbit was left on Albert's knees for a long time he began tentatively to reach out and manipulate its fur with forefingers. While doing this the steel rod was struck. A violent fear reaction resulted.
• Rabbit alone. Started immediately to whimper, holding hands far up, but did not cry.

Age: 12 months, 21 days

• Santa Claus mask. Withdrawal, gurgling, then slapped at it without touching. When his hand was forced to touch it, he whimpered and cried. He finally cried at the mere visual stimulus of the mask.
• Fur coat. Wrinkled his nose and withdrew both hands, drew back his whole body and began to whimper as the coat was put nearer. In moving his body to one side his hand accidentally touched the coat. He began to cry at once, nodding his head in a very peculiar manner.
• The rat. He allowed the rat to crawl towards him without withdrawing. The rat was then allowed to crawl against his chest. He first began to fret and then covered his eyes with both hands.
• The rabbit. After a few seconds he puckered up his face, began to nod his head and to look intently at the experimenter. He reached out tentatively with his left hand and touched the animal, shuddered and withdrew the whole body. The experimenter then took hold of his left hand and laid it on the rabbit's back. Albert immediately withdrew his hand and began to suck his thumb. Again the rabbit was laid in his lap. He began to cry, covering his face with both hands.

The good doctor considered undoing the effects of his experiment (which, disturbingly, involved potentially "stimulating sex organs") but decided against it in the interest of time. On the plus side, the experiment was enlightening and taught psychologists a lot about conditioning, but sadly resulted in the creation of a man with an intense fear of bunnies and Santa masks.