1. Question: What is the importance of the experiments on Little Albert? Why did John Watson do these tests on such a small child? Quotes: "Thus, Watson and Rayner established a response of fear to a previously neutral object, and they had done so easily and effectively" (Schultz & Schultz, 2016, p. 212). "Watson concluded that all our adult fears, anxieties, and phobias must be simple conditioned emotional responses that were established in infancy and childhood and that stayed with us throughout our lives" (Schultz & Schultz, 2016, p. 212). "When Watson was 13, his father ran off with another woman, never to return, and Watson resented him all his life. Years later, when Watson was rich and famous, his father went to New York to see him, but Watson refused to meet him. Watson did, however, turn out to be a lot like his father" (Schultz & Schultz, 2016, pp. 212-213). "Meanwhile, Watson's marriage deteriorated; his many infidelities made his wife furious" (Schultz & Schultz, 2016, p. 216). "Although he married Rosalie Rayner, he was never allowed to return to a full-time academic position" (Schultz & Schultz, 2016, p. 216). "Nevertheless, Watson's contributions to advertising were highly effective and and soon brought him prominence and wealth" (Schultz & Schultz, 2016, p. 217). Reflection: These experiments were the beginning of Behaviorism. They paved the way for classical conditioning, and gave Watson a new theory on fears. Because he was able to get a conditioned response after only seven pairing of the neutral stimulus with the unconditioned response, it led him to assume that every fear we have must be a conditioned response from our childhood that we just never got over. It is actually a reasonable thought. It seems unlikely that every single fear we have was developed in childhood, but it's not a bad starting point. The more I read about Watson, the more it made sense as to why he did what he did to Little Albert. Frankly, he seemed like a less than ideal human being. He never seemed to apply himself before he found psychology, and he was described as being full of himself, not really caring about other people. The book tells us that he had a very tough childhood. His father left his family when Watson was 13 to be with another woman, something Watson never forgave him for. He refused to see him when his father came to New York after learning his son was rich and famous. However, this didn't stop Watson from being just like his father. He was also an alcoholic who constantly cheated on his wife. Finally, his many affairs caught up to him, making his wife infuriated. She divorced him, and his love letters to a Rosalie Rayner became public, causing the downfall of his psychology career. He ended up marrying Rayner, but the damage to his career had already been done. No school or psychology position would hire him. With no other choice, he turned to the world of business. Making over four times his salary in education, he was making waves with advertising psychology. He believed human behavior was similar to machines, able to be predicted and controlled. He came up with such good ideas and was so effective to the advertising world, he started earning the equivalent of a million dollars a year in today's money. Clearly, we see that Watson was not the best person. He seemed to care a lot more about getting ahead in life than doing the right thing. It seems to me like he did the Little Albert experiments because he knew it would bring results, and he didn't care much about the effects it would have on the baby. References: Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2016). A history of modern psychology. Cengage Learning. 2. Question: What type of influence did animal psychology have on behaviorism? How did animal psychologists do back then? Quotation: "Behaviorism is a direct outgrowth of studies in animal behavior during the first decade of the twentieth century(1929,p.327. Thus, we can say that the most important antecedent of the Watson's program was animal psychology, which grew out of evolutionary theory and led to attempts to demonstrate the existence of the mind in lower organisms and the continuity between animal and human minds."(Schultz & Schultz, p. 192) "With Morgans' law of parsimony and his greater reliance on experimental instead of anecdotal techniques, animal psychology became more objective, although consciousness remained its focus. The methodology was becoming more objective, even though the subject matter was not."(Schultz & Schultz, p. 192) "In the early years of animal psychology in the United States, there was a continuing interest in the conscious process of animals. The influence of Romanes and Morgan persisted for quite some time."(Schultz & Schultz, p. 192) "Whether dealing with mind or with behavior, becoming an animal psychologist in those days was not a good career move. State legislators and university administrators, always concerned with funding, did not consider the field to have any practical value. Harvard's president saw; no future in Yerjees brand of comparative psychology. It was smelly and expensive and seemed to have no relation to practical public service" (Reed, 1987a, p.94) "Many of the students Yerkes trained in his laboratory took jobs in applied fields because they were unable to find employment in comparative psychology. Those who did manage to get university positions knew they were the most expendable members of their psychology departments. In the time of financial hardship, animal psychologists were likely to be the first to be fired."(Schultz & Schultz p. 194) Response After reading about the influence animal psychologist had on behaviorism and the history of how it was not easy to be an animal psychologist in that time however the text states that "In the 1910 edition of Cattell's American men of Science, only six of the 218 psychologists listed claimed to be active in animal research. Career prospects were poor yet the field expanded because of the dedication of the few who stayed with it." (Schultz & Schultz, p. 195) When I first read this, I immediately thought of how, like everything else in this world, if things aren't growing/progressing, most people will leave, but only a small percentage will stay to observe the growth. That, I believe, can apply to work, relationships, and pretty much anything else in this world. Proverbs 16:32 says, " Better to be patient than a warrior, and better to have self-control than to capture a city." Romans 15:1 states, "We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don't have power, and not please ourselves." Colossians 1:10-11 states, "We're praying this so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way; by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; by being strengthed through his glorious might so that you endure everything and have patience."