Little Albert Ethical Analysis

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Little Albert was an 11-month-old baby who developed a fear of rats through his participation in an ethically questionable experiment by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner. When Little Albert heard a loud bang (unconditioned stimulus), he exhibited a fear response (unconditioned response). Through conditioning, the sight of a rat became paired with the loud noise and went from being a neutral stimulus to a conditioned stimulus (CS). Little Albert’s fear of the rat became a conditioned response (CR). Because of this experiment, the APA has created the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (The Ethics Code) which is intended to provide guidance for psychologists and standards of professional conduct that can be applied by the

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