Conditioning Emotions: The Little Albert Experiment

Read the following passage about a classic experiment in psychology:

In the early 20th century, American psychologist John B. Watson conducted experiments on behaviorism, particularly focusing on how emotions could be conditioned. One of his most famous experiments involved a young boy named Little Albert. Watson and his assistant, Rosalie Rayner, presented Albert with a white rat, which he initially found to be a neutral stimulus. However, each time Albert reached for the rat, the researchers made a loud, frightening noise. Over time, Albert began to fear the rat, demonstrating that emotional responses could be learned through conditioning.