Watson's Brave New World: Classical Conditioning

Pavlov’s dog experiment is a base for the establishment of classical conditioning theory and its concepts. In classical conditioning, generalization is defined as the process in which a stimulus similar to the original CS produces similar behavior identical

For this paper, I chose to write about the Little Albert experiment The overall importance of this study was to discover if a human could be conditioned to develop a bias, fear, or generalized fear of an animal, object, or person based the stimuli placed around the involved person, animal or object. Watson & Rayner (1920) suggested that “in infancy the original emotional reaction patterns are few, consisting so far as observed of fear, rage and love, then there must be some simple method by means of which the range of stimuli which can call out these emotions and their compounds is greatly increased.” This means that before any conditioning occurs, the subject should have a pure response, but after minor and simple experimentation and conditioning,

And not the child's mind only. The adult's mind too—all his life long" (Huxley, Chapter 2), shows how conditioning techniques

The first chapter of Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange begins unlike anything we have ever read. From the first sentence to the last, the reader is faced with vocabulary that is unfamiliar and a narrative style that demands careful attention. This essay will focus primarily on diction and its historical context but also on the novel’s form. First of all, the unfamiliar language in this novel, while it may be straining, is ultimately intriguing.

The Little Albert experiment was a case study showing empirical evidence of classical conditioning in humans. The study also provides an example of stimulus generalization. It was carried out by John B. Watson and his graduate student, Rosalie Rayner, at Johns Hopkins University. The results were first published in the February 1920 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology. After observing children in the field, Watson hypothesized that the fearful response of children to loud noises is an innate unconditioned response.

Like all good dystopian stories, the world of A Clockwork Orange shocks us because it is not impossible to achieve. The perfect tyrannical societies portrayed in George Orwell’s 1984, or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, or even Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series are all realistic because they beam present-day society into a twisted mirror and show us how close we are to becoming a daunting, hellish civilization. Similarly, A Clockwork Orange reflects English society as Burgess perceived it in the 1960s- fresh off the boat, he was startled by the prevalence of an irreverent youth subculture of coffee bars, teenage gangs, and rising incidents of juvenile delinquency. This, coupled with the fact that pioneers of behaviorism such as B.F. Skinner were gradually growing in importance, caused him to investigate the

The novel, A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess, satirically addresses the oncoming issues of an advanced age. He confronts the idea that one cannot change, but rather can lose the ability to make moral and ethical decisions. But in essence, the subject will remain as he was before, sincerely scathed. Alex, the narrator and protagonist of the story, is a 15-year-old gang member, who assaults, rapes, and murders innocent citizens for his own pleasure. His three other gang members, Dim, Pete, and Georgie, are lead and enticed by Alex.

Most animals can be taught through pavlovian conditioning, considering Ivan Pavlov’s experiment on dog’s salivating at a bell is one of the most famous examples of classical conditioning. I can easily teach my dogs how to learn things through Pavlovian conditioning. If I tell my dogs “go to bed” they will run to their beds and wait for a treat. They are so conditioned that even when they go in their bed by themselves they look at me for a

Nevertheless, Pavlov 's theory of classical conditioning is somehow extreme, as it reduces

Behavior therapy was studied by Ivan Pavlov and his famous dog study in which dogs were conditioned to salivate upon hearing a bell. It was later continued to be studied by John Watson who has the famous “Little Albert” study in which an 11-month old infant was conditioned to be scared of fuzzy white things because a rat was paired with a loud noise. The conclusion of the two conditioning experiences was that, behaviors followed by satisfying experiences tend to increase in frequency and behaviors followed by aversive experiences tend to decrease in frequency” (Thoma, 2015). Watson’s assistant Mary Jones, used this principle to clinical applications reasoning that, “if conditioning could be used to induce a phobia, perhaps it could be used to undo a phobia as well” (Thoma, 2015). Thus, behavior therapy was developed and began being used for

Huxley creates a society that seems to be a utopia to its citizens but is clearly dystopic to readers who understand the tyrannical government of World State. The purpose of Brave New World is to satirize Huxley’s society and the future if society continues it unethical behavior. Huxley hopes to make readers apprehensive of the consequences of a technologically-based society- a contemptible

In 1920, Watson and Rayner used infant Albert B. “Little Albert” in an unprecedented experiment of conditioned fear (Watson & Rayner, 1920). Little Albert was discharged from the experiment as an infant and his real identity and welfare remained a mystery until Beck, Levinson & Irons published their identity findings in 2009 (Beck, Levinson, & Irons, 2009). According to Beck et al. (2009) , Little Albert (Douglas Merritte), had developed hydrocephalus after the study and died.

Introduction Learning enables you as an individual, to gain more knowledge about something which you have never learned about. Learning also has to do with past experiences which are influenced by behavioural changes (Weiten, 2016). There are different types of ways to learn; through, classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning which will be discussed and analysed in the essay.   Behaviourism Behaviourism is considered one of the main subjects in psychology and the two main people who founded behaviourism were, Burrhus Frederic Skinner, also known as B.F Skinner and Ivan Pavlov who were famous for the work they did on classical and operant conditioning (Moderato & Presti, 2006). According to Moderato and Presti

For a film that was made in 1971, the presentation of the effects of classical conditioning is quite accurate and allows the viewer to understand both the positive and negative results of using classical conditioning methods. However, the type of classical conditioning used in this film is inaccurate to real world conditioning procedures. The classical conditioning used in this movie is a fictional type of aversion therapy referred to as the “Ludovico technique”. This technique has the subject (Alex) strapped to a chair and injected with drugs while having his eyelids forced open while a number of disturbing images are flashed in front of him, all to the music of Beethoven's Ninth symphony. The technique used in 1971’s, A Clockwork Orange is a brainwashing technique and is completely fictional.

This school of thought suggests that only observable behaviors should be studied, since internal states such as cognitions, emotions and moods are too subjective. There are two major types of conditioning: 1. Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioral training in which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response. Next, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with the naturally occurring stimulus.