The “Little Albert Experiment”, The Most Unethical Experiment Conducted In Psychological History

9Who was Little Albert

An investigation by psychologist and Professor Hall P.Beck uncovered several facts that proved initial reports about the aftermath of the experiments false, such as the outrage expressed by the mother. Beck concluded that Albert was actually a boy named Douglas, the illegitimate child of campus nurse Arvilla Merritte. Beck tracked down the family through records at the university and the help of FBI forensics who supplied a photograph that matched Douglas with little Albert.

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10Watson made no attempt to desensitize Little  Albert

Watson and his aide Rosalie Rayner made no attempt to desensitize the child although he discussed what might be done to eradicate his fears. In fact, both left the university soon after.The experiment would go on to be regarded as a mystery and met with huge criticism simply because it only yielded Watson’s own interpretations of the experiment with no objective means to evaluate the child’s reactions. Many assumed that Albert would grow up with a fear of furry objects. The truth was even more tragic than that.

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11Here’s what happened to Little Albert aka Douglas

Beck and his associate Alan J Friedlund discovered that Douglas had died tragically on May 10^th 1925 when he was six due to Hydrocephalus which is a buildup of fluid in the brain. "Our search of seven years was longer than the little boy’s life," Beck wrote in an investigative research that he published along with Friedlund.

What was more sensational was the fact that the duo found that Douglas Merritte wasn’t the “healthy” and “Normal” child described in Watson’s experiment in 1920. They found that Douglas had suffered from the disease since birth and even provided convincing evidence that Watson was aware of the child’s condition. This cast a huge a shadow over the moral ethics of the notorious Little Albert Experiment.

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12Watson went on to deliver lectures

As for John Watson, he actually went on to deliver lectures about his experiments inspiring like-minded people like  Mary Cover Jones who would go on to be known as the “Mother of Behavior Therapy” after her own study conducted on a three-year-old infant.

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