After Little Albert acquired a conditioned fear of rats, Watson wanted to see how he would react to a white rabbit, cotton wool, and a Santa Claus mask. He was studying whether or not __________ had occurred.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Watson was studying whether or not Little Albert's fear had generalized to other stimuli (i.e. whether the fear response had occurred in response to stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus of the rat). This is known as stimulus generalization. Choice A (behaviour modification) and choice B (shaping) are not relevant to the experiment, and choice C (extinction) refers to the process of reducing or eliminating a conditioned response by repeatedly presenting the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus, which is not what Watson was studying.

After Little Albert Acquired a Conditioned Fear of Rats, Watson