<P> For the experiment proper , Albert was put on a mattress on a table in the middle of a room . A white laboratory rat was placed near Albert and he was allowed to play with it . At this point , Watson and Rayner made a loud sound behind Albert 's back by striking a suspended steel bar with a hammer each time the baby touched the rat . Albert responded to the noise by crying and showing fear . After several such pairings of the two stimuli , Albert was presented with only the rat . Upon seeing the rat , Albert got very distressed , crying and crawling away . Apparently , the infant associated the white rat with the noise . The rat , originally a neutral stimulus , had become a conditioned stimulus , and it was eliciting an emotional response ( conditioned response ) similar to the distress ( unconditioned response ) originally given to the noise ( unconditioned stimulus ) . It should be noted that Watson 's experiment had many failings by modern standards . For example , it had only a single subject and no control subjects . Furthermore , such an experiment could be hard to conduct in compliance with current law and regulations , given the expected risks to the subject . </P>
<P> For the experiment proper , Albert was put on a mattress on a table in the middle of a room . A white laboratory rat was placed near Albert and he was allowed to play with it . At this point , Watson and Rayner made a loud sound behind Albert 's back by striking a suspended steel bar with a hammer each time the baby touched the rat . Albert responded to the noise by crying and showing fear . After several such pairings of the two stimuli , Albert was presented with only the rat . Upon seeing the rat , Albert got very distressed , crying and crawling away . Apparently , the infant associated the white rat with the noise . The rat , originally a neutral stimulus , had become a conditioned stimulus , and it was eliciting an emotional response ( conditioned response ) similar to the distress ( unconditioned response ) originally given to the noise ( unconditioned stimulus ) . It should be noted that Watson 's experiment had many failings by modern standards . For example , it had only a single subject and no control subjects . Furthermore , such an experiment could be hard to conduct in compliance with current law and regulations , given the expected risks to the subject . </P>
what was the neutral stimulus in little albert
what was the neutral stimulus in little albert
A white laboratory rat
A white laboratory rat