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Little Albert

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 134 Accesses

Synonyms

Albert B.

Definition

Little Albert refers to the baby used in a classic psychology study by Watson and Rayner (1920). This study demonstrated how Albert developed a new fear through learning.

Introduction

The Little Albert study has been widely cited in psychology textbooks to the present day. Moreover, because Watson filmed it (see Watson 1923), many people have seen images of Albert being afraid of animals and have wondered whether he suffered any long-term harm from the study. Albert’s fate has been a mystery, however, because Watson and Rayner never published follow-up accounts or disclosed Albert’s last name so that others could track him down. This encyclopedia entry will first summarize the original study – why it was done, the procedure used to create fear, and why Albert was chosen for the study. Next, it will highlight recent claims about solving the mystery of Little Albert’s real identity and his fate after the study ended.

Watson and Rayner’s Little Albert Study

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References

  • Beck, H. P., Levinson, S., & Irons, G. (2009). Finding Little Albert: A journey to John B. Watson’s infant laboratory. American Psychologist, 64, 605–614. doi:10.1037/a0017234.

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  • Fridlund, A. J., Beck, H. P., Goldie, W. D., & Irons, G. (2012). Little Albert: A neurologically impaired child. History of Psychology, 15, 302–327. doi:10.1037/a0026720.

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  • Powell, R. A., Digdon, N., Harris, B., & Smithson, C. (2014). Correcting the record on Watson, Rayner and Little Albert: Albert Barger as “psychology’s lost boy”. American Psychologist, 69, 600–611. doi:10.1037/a0036854.

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  • Watson, J. B. (1923). Experimental investigation of babies. [Motion picture]. United States: c. H. Stoeling Co.

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  • Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 1–14. doi:10.1037/h0069608.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grant MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Nancy Digdon

Authors
  1. Nancy Digdon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nancy Digdon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Charlie Reeve

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Cite this entry

Digdon, N. (2016). Little Albert. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_960-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_960-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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