ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Little Albert experiment

Okay kiddo, here's what the Little Albert Experiment was all about!

A long time ago, there was a famous experiment called the Little Albert Experiment. This experiment was done by a psychologist named John B. Watson, who wanted to figure out if fear could be learned in humans.

Watson chose a little boy named Albert to be his test subject. Albert was just a baby, about 9 months old, and he liked to play with lots of toys.

At first, Watson wanted to test Albert's fear level by seeing how he reacted to different objects. The objects included a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey, and some masks.

None of these objects scared Albert by themselves. But then Watson started making loud, scary noises whenever Albert touched the objects. This scared Albert and made him cry.

After a while, just seeing the objects without the loud noises was enough to make Albert cry and become afraid. Even when he saw objects that looked a little bit like the ones from the experiment, he would still feel afraid.

This experiment helped scientists learn that humans can learn to be scared of something even if they weren't scared of it before. It's like learning to be afraid of the dark or spiders because someone else is afraid of them.

Overall, the Little Albert Experiment was an important study for scientists to learn more about how humans can learn to be afraid through different experiences.