What are the ethical lessons that should be learned from the "Little Albert Study?
What are the ethical lessons that should be learned from the "Little Albert Study?
In 1920, John B Watson and his graduate student Rosalie Rayner wanted to replicate the results of study done by BF Skinner in human beings. They wanted to prove the classical conditioning in human beings. For the same, they studied an 11 month old infant who was known to be Little Albert. The experiment was as follows: a white lab rat was introduced in Albert's environment and as soon as he touched it, Watson and Rayner made a loud sound by striking a steel rod with a hammer. After a few trials, Albert started exhibiting fearful response by crying or showing distress and crawling away from the rat. Later in the study, it was found that Albert generalized the fear response to other furry objects like furry gods, rabbits, even Santa Clause with the white beard triggered his emotional distress.
The goal of Watson and Rayner was technically achieved but the research study had a lot of flaws and was filled with ethical issues. Such kind of research will not be allowed in current scenario.
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