Little Albert, the subject of a famous psychological experiment conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in 1920, was primarily conditioned to fear a white rat. However, the experiment also demonstrated that his fear generalized to other stimuli, including:
- Other furry objects: Albert displayed fear towards a rabbit, a dog, and a fur coat.
- Objects with similar features to the rat: He also showed fear towards cotton wool, a Santa Claus mask, and even Watson's hair.
This experiment highlighted the principles of classical conditioning, demonstrating how a neutral stimulus (the rat) could be paired with an unconditioned stimulus (a loud noise) to elicit a conditioned response (fear). The generalization of fear to other stimuli suggests that our fears can be influenced by our experiences and can extend beyond the original source of fear.
