Classical Conditioning

Think of something you're afraid of - a rat, a spider, or even a creepy clown. Now think back to the first time you realized you were scared of it. Was it because someone else you were with jumped at the sight of it? Or did you have a bad experience that made you fear it?

American psychologist John Watson

We're not instinctively wired to run when see a rat. My friend has a pet rat, so I think they're cute. But my other friend is deathly afraid of rats because her mom screams every time she sees one. My friend associates rats with her mom screaming, so rats scare her. This sort of classical conditioning occurs unintentionally in our daily lives, and can really influence our preferences and fears.

In 1920, American psychologist John Watson conducted an unorthodox scientific experiment on fear in babies that illustrates this type of classical conditioning. Observing that babies naturally fear loud noises, Watson set out to train an 8-month-old baby to associate a loud noise (a natural, unconditioned stimulus) with a conditioned stimulus. In this case, the conditioned stimulus was a live white rat, which the subject, Little Albert, didn't fear when he was initially allowed to play with it.

Conditioned Stimulus

As the experiment began, a calm Little Albert was brought into the lab. Watson hid behind a curtain, ready with a metal bar and a hammer. As Albert entered the room, Watson released the rat and struck the metal bar with a hammer, causing Albert to cry.

Little Albert did not fear the rat initially.

The next day, when the experiment was repeated, Little Albert cried when he saw the rat even before Watson had a chance to make the loud noise with the hammer. This experiment was successful in conditioning the baby to fear the rat by associating - it with a loud, scary noise.