Little Albert was made to hear a loud noise, the moment he saw a white rat. After certain trials he started crying at the sight of a white rat. This is a classic example of ___________
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Aversive conditioning
Little Albert first had no fear of the white rat. Each time he saw it, a frightening loud noise was made. After repeated pairings the rat alone made him cry: the unpleasant noise had become associated with the rat. This is learning by classical conditioning, a temporal association in which two events repeatedly occur close together in time.
Option (1) Aversive conditioning — Correct. Aversive conditioning rests on the same pairing: something is repeatedly associated with an aversive (painful or unpleasant) consequence until it becomes unpleasant itself. An alcoholic who is given a mild electric shock while smelling alcohol finds the smell aversive after repeated pairings; Albert came to fear the rat after it was paired again and again with the loud noise.
Option (2) Positive reinforcement — Incorrect. Positive reinforcement gives a reward after a wanted behaviour to make it occur more often, as when a mother cooks a favourite dish whenever the child does homework on time. Albert received no reward; he received a fright.
Option (3) Negative reinforcement — Incorrect. Negative reinforcement strengthens responses that get rid of or avoid a painful stimulus, such as putting on woollen clothes to avoid the cold. Albert did nothing that took the noise away; the noise was only paired with the rat.
Option (4) Token economy — Incorrect. In a token economy a person is given a token every time a wanted behaviour occurs, and the tokens are later exchanged for a reward. It is a reward system used in therapy, not the learning of a fear.
Note: The Little Albert experiment is not in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, and is not in the NCERT book (2025-26) either; it is explained here for the benefit of the students. The experiment was carried out by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in 1920; it is usually described as the classical conditioning of fear. Of the four options, only aversive conditioning, which both books explain as the repeated pairing of something with an aversive consequence, is built on that pairing; the other three are ways of changing behaviour by its consequences.
NCERT (2025-26): “Behaviour Therapy … Negative reinforcement and aversive conditioning are the two major techniques of behaviour modification. As you have already studied in Class XI, responses that lead organisms to get rid of painful stimuli or avoid and escape from them provide negative reinforcement. For example, one learns to put on woollen clothes, burn firewood or use electric heaters to avoid the unpleasant cold weather. One learns to move away from dangerous stimuli because they provide negative reinforcement. Aversive conditioning refers to repeated association of undesired response with an aversive consequence. For example, an alcoholic is given a mild electric shock and asked to smell the alcohol. With repeated pairings the smell of alcohol is aversive as the pain of the shock is associated with it and the person will give up alcohol. If an adaptive behaviour occurs rarely, positive reinforcement is given to increase the deficit. For example, if a child does not do homework regularly, positive reinforcement may be used by the child’s mother by preparing the child’s favourite dish whenever s/he does homework at the appointed time. The positive reinforcement of food will increase the behaviour of doing homework at the appointed time. Persons with behavioural problems can be given a token as a reward every time a wanted behaviour occurs. The tokens are collected and exchanged for a reward such as an outing for the patient or a treat for the child. This is known as token economy.” “Factors Underlying Abnormal Behaviour … Learning can take place by classical conditioning (temporal association in which two events repeatedly occur close together in time), operant conditioning (behaviour is followed by a reward), and social learning (learning by imitating others’ behaviour).…” |