The story does not have a happy ending, however. Douglas died at the age of six on May 10, 1925, of hydrocephalus (a build-up of fluid in his brain), which he had suffered from since birth.
Albert was a 9-month-old baby who had not previously demonstrated any fear of rats. In the beginning of the experiment, when Albert was 11 months old, John Watson placed a rat (in addition to some other animals and objects with fur) on the table in front of Albert, who reacted with curiosity and no sign of fear.
Albert died in 2007, without ever knowing of his early life in a hospital residence, or of his apparent part in psychology's history.
“Little Albert,” the baby behind John Watson's famous 1920 emotional conditioning experiment at Johns Hopkins University, has been identified as Douglas Merritte, the son of a wetnurse named Arvilla Merritte who lived and worked at a campus hospital at the time of the experiment — receiving $1 for her baby's ...
The “Little Albert” experiment, performed in 1919 by John Watson of Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, was the first to show that a human could be classically conditioned.
In 2009, he published his conclusions. In them, he pointed out that Albert was actually Douglas Merritte, a child who had suffered from hydrocephalus since his birth and died at the age of six.
After gaining permission from Albert's mother, the researchers decided to test the process of classical conditioning on a human subject – by inducing a further phobia in the child! Little Albert was a 9-month-old baby who was tested on his reactions to various neutral stimuli.
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.
The story does not have a happy ending, however. Douglas died at the age of six on May 10, 1925, of hydrocephalus (a build-up of fluid in his brain), which he had suffered from since birth. "Our search of seven years was longer than the little boy's life," Beck wrote of the discovery.
In contrast with Douglas Merritte, William Albert Barger/Martin was a robust, healthy boy, just like Watson reported, and he went on to live a long life, dying in 2007 at the age of 87.
The researchers failed to decondition Albert to the stimuli he was afraid of, which should have been done after the experiment. Albert ended up passing away at the age of six due to hydrocephalus, a condition that can lead to brain damage. Despite knowing the child's health condition, Watson continued the experiment.
A white laboratory rat was placed near Albert and he was allowed to play with it. At this point, Watson and Rayner made a loud sound behind Albert's back by striking a suspended steel bar with a hammer each time the baby touched the rat. Albert responded to the noise by crying and showing fear.
They verify that Merritte indeed had congenital hydrocephalus, and recounted in disturbing detail treatments the child was subjected to during his first year of life, including repeated cranial and lumbar punctures to reduce fluid buildup in the brain.
Now this experiment could never be done in present day due to ethical reasoning but for your own piece of mind I'll have you know that Little Albert was shortly adopted after this experiment and his parents did reveal that he eventually came over his fears with time. Watson, J. B. (1924).
The unethical aspects of the Little Albert experiment were; Protection of the participants, as most babies are hurt by loud noises this experiment brought harm to him, Informed consent, Little Albert was too young to understand so he would never have been able to give proper informed consent, Withdrawal from an ...
Arvilla Merritte was a 22-year-old Caucasian. On 9 March 1919, she delivered a boy ('Baby Merritte') on the Hopkins campus (Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 1919). The father was listed as William Merritte.
Watson had originally planned to decondition Albert out of his fear of rats, in order to demonstrate that conditioned fears could be eliminated. Albert was removed from the experiment by his mother prior to this happening, which means that the experiment left a child with a fear that he did not previously had.
1944, B.F. Skinner and his wife, Yvonne, were expecting their second child. After raising one baby, Skinner felt that he could simplify the process for parents and improve the experience for children. Through some tinkering, he created the “air crib,” a climate controlled environment for an infant.
Watson and Rayner wanted to try to reproduce Pavlov's study in humans, and the Little Albert Experiment was born. The researchers presented a nine-month-old boy they called “Albert” with fluffy animals like a monkey, a rabbit, and a white rat. Albert had no negative reaction to them, and he even tried to pet them.
Gibson and Richard D. Walk (1960) investigated the ability of newborn animals and human infants to detect depth. Gibson and Walk tested whether youngsters would crawl over an apparent cliff – if the neonates did it could be assumed that the ability to see depth was not inborn.
Perhaps the most significant turning point in Queen Victoria's life was the death of Prince Albert in December 1861. His death sent Victoria into a deep depression, and she stayed in seclusion for many years, rarely appearing in public. She mourned him by wearing black for the remaining forty years of her life.
10 October 1839: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg- Gotha, aged 20, arrives at Windsor on a visit to Queen Victoria, his first cousin, three months older than him.
Victoria was prone to temper tantrums. Her mood swings were such that some historians claim she may have inherited the 'madness' of her grandfather, George III. Nevertheless, despite the arguments, Albert always managed to get back into Victoria's good books.
Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe" and spreading haemophilia in European royalty.
Royals have been marrying their cousins since time immemorial, traditionally as a means of strengthening political alliances. What might be surprising though is that members of the royal family have continued to marry their cousins, right up to the present day!