Jones 1924: Curing a boys phobia

D2e1

Can researchers cause and cure phobias?

If Watson and Raynor had been given the opportunity, do you think they could have cued Little Albert’s phobia?

How would they have done

this?

Aim of Jones To investigate whether a phobia in a little boy

could be discontinued and whether this would generalise to other objects.

ProcedurePeter 2 years and 10 months old.

They watched him play with beads in his cot whilst the experimenter showed him a white Rat.

Peter Screamed. He was moved away leaving his beads behind.

When the Rat touched the beads Peter protested, BUT not when another child touched them.

Peter reactions observed.His fear of the Rat generalised to other objects.

Object(s) Peter’s Reaction

Playroom and cot Chose toys, got into the cot

White ball, rolled in Picked it up and held it

Fur coat over cot Cried until it was removed

Cotton Balls Whimpered, Cried, Withdrew

Hat with feathers Cried

Blue woolly jumper Looked, turned away, no fear

White cloth rabbit No Fear

Wooden Doll No FearPeter was also show a Rabbit, he was more afraid of this than the ratSo this was used in the deconditioning

Peter had daily sessions with the rabbit and 3 other children.

(The children did not fear the rabbit, why is this important?)

Note down the reactions listed a to q on page 146.

ResultsPeters behaviour improved and worsened.

For example on session 33 Peter was scratched by the rabbit so this was a setback.

Look at the side of the graph, it relates to the reactions from a to q. 6 people were asked to put that list iin order of improvement, this list was then called the Tolerance Series.

Sometimes Peter was observed twice a day sometimes not so often 2 months between 7 and 8( At this point a big dogged jumped at peter scaring both him and his carer.

Results ContSession 8 onwards Classical conditioning used to

help Peter. Food was given to Peter that he liked when

presented with the Rabbit.

The other children acted as Role ModelsSession 9 the Rabbit made Peter cry. A child ran

over and said ‘oh rabbit’ and helped Peter move closer.

Session 21 Peter cried so another child held it. Peter then wanted the Rabbit and then held it briefly.

At first when asked about the sessions, Peter would not mention the Rabbit but would later say “I like that rabbit”

He lost his fear of Cotton, the coat and Feathers.

Reaction Rats and fur improved.

He also accepted new animals

ConclusionBoth Classical Conditioning and Social Learning

helped with deconditioning.

The deconditioning also helped with generalsied fears and cope with new animals.

StrengthsDetailed observations over a long period.

Showing progress and changes clearly.

Other people asked to rank tolerance, so avioded bias.

Used different ways to help Peter. These have sinse been built on.

WeaknessesThe gaps between the sessions were variable.

So progress could be to do with time rather than deconditioning.

Used Classical Conditioning and SLT as well as other people to help Peter, so hard to say which method was more effective.