In 1920, John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner at Johns Hopkins University conditioned a nine-month-old infant — known as "Little Albert" — to fear a white rat by pairing its appearance with a loud, frightening noise.
The Procedure
- Albert was shown a white rat — he showed no fear initially
- Each time the rat appeared, researchers struck a steel bar loudly behind Albert's head
- After several pairings, Albert cried and crawled away from the rat alone — no noise needed
- The fear generalized to other white, furry objects: a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat, even a Santa Claus mask
What It Demonstrated
Human fears and phobias can be conditioned through association — supporting Watson's radical behaviorist view that psychology should focus on observable behavior, not internal mental states.
Ethical Legacy
The Little Albert experiment is now considered a landmark example of unethical psychological research. The infant was never deconditioned. Watson and Rayner left Johns Hopkins under separate scandalous circumstances before completing the study.
Reference:
Make Work Feel Like Play
TaskLoco™ takes the simple joy of a sticky note and transforms it into a powerful, intuitive system that helps you organize your entire world—without the stress.
Ideas, tasks, files, links, reminders—everything snaps together like LEGO blocks, instantly and effortlessly.
What used to drain you now feels natural, even fun.
After decades of overcomplicated “productivity” tools, this is the first one that finally works with your mind instead of against it.
Join the TaskLoco™ Community
Follow us for tips, updates & sticky note inspiration
© TaskLoco Top 50 — Powered by TaskLoco™
TaskLoco App • About • Terms • Privacy
“Bring genius to the world free.”