John Watson was the founder of behaviorism and believed that psychology could be studied scientifically through observable behavior. He conducted classical conditioning experiments on humans, most famously with Little Albert, demonstrating that emotions could be conditioned through repeated pairing of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus. Watson's theory rejected concepts of mind and consciousness, instead viewing all behavior as learned through stimulus-response associations and conditioning experiences.

2. John Watson learning theory

3. Introduction of John Broadus
Watson
 Father of American Behaviorist theory
 His work based on Pavlov experiments on
dogs digestive system
 He researched on classical conditioning
 Watson believed that all individual
differences in behavior were due to different
experiences of learning.

4. Cont….
 John Watson proposed that the process of
classical conditioning was able to explain all
aspects of human psychology.
 Everything from speech to emotional
responses were simply patterns of stimulus
and response.
 Watson denied completely the existence of
the mind or consciousness.

5. Famous quotation by Watson
 "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-
formed, and my own specified world to
bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take
any one at random and train him to
become any type of specialist I might
select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-
chief and, yes, even beggar-man and
thief, regardless of his talents, penchants,
tendencies, abilities, vocations and the
race of his ancestors”

6. Aspects of Watson's theory
 He opposed mentalistic concepts
 He used contiguity to explain learning
 He considered emotion to be just another
example of classical conditioning.
 He rejected the notion of individual
differences

7. Cont…
 He thought complex behaviors came about
through combinations of identifiable reflexes
 He was a chief proponent of "nurture" and
believed that all human differences were the
result of learning
 He believed that practice strengthens
learning

8. Stage 1: Before Conditioning:
 In this stage, the unconditioned stimulus
(UCS) produces an unconditioned
response (UCR)in an organism.
 In basic terms, this means that a stimulus in
the environment has produced a behavior /
response which is unlearned and
 therefore is a natural response which has
not been taught

9. Neutral Stimulus
 This stage also involves another stimulus
which has no effect on a person and is called
the neutral stimulus (NS).
 The NS could be a person, object, place, etc.
 The neutral stimulus in classical conditioning
does not produce a response until it is paired
with the unconditioned stimulus.

10. Stage 2: During Conditioning:
 During this stage a stimulus which produces
no response (i.e. neutral) is associated with
the unconditioned stimulus at which point it
now becomes known as the conditioned
stimulus (CS).

11. Cont…
 However, one trail learning can happen on
certain occasions when it is not necessary for
an association to be strengthened over time

12. Stage 3: After Conditioning:
 Now the conditioned stimulus (CS) has been
associated with the unconditioned stimulus
(UCS) to create a new conditioned response
(CR).

14. Watson Experiment
 Watson was interested in taking Pavlov's
research further to show that emotional
reactions could be classically conditioned
in people.
 The participant in the experiment was a child
 Known as Little Albert

15. Little Albert
 A 9 month baby
 Watson exposed the child to a series of
stimuli including a white rat, a rabbit, a
monkey, masks and burning newspapers
and
 observed the boy's reactions

17. Stage 1 Before Conditioning
 The boy initially showed no fear of any of the
objects he was shown.

18. Stage 2 During Conditioning
 The next time Albert was exposed the rat,
Watson made a loud noise by hitting a metal
pipe with a hammer.

19. Stage 3 After Conditioning
 Naturally, the child began to cry after hearing
the loud noise.
 After repeatedly pairing the white rat with the
loud noise, Albert began to cry simply after
seeing the rat.

20. Elements of Classical Conditioning
 Neutral Stimulus: The white rat
 Unconditioned Stimulus: The loud noise
 Unconditioned Response: Fear
 Conditioned Stimulus: The white rat
 Conditioned Response: Fear