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2025

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Hall P. Beck, with Gary Irons, reports on a seven-year search for psychology’s lost boy.

Looking back: Finding Little Albert

In 1920 a pair of researchers at Johns Hopkins University taught a little baby boy to fear a white rat. 

Little Albert – one of the most famous research participants in psychology’s history – but who was he?

emotional response; impact; theoretical work psychology; Little Albert; and more

Letters, April 2012

Typing on a keyboard with 'letters' headline

Including adults with Asperger's, a call to arms, Little Albert and the Hawthorne effect.


Letters, November 2008

beautiful explanations; mushrooms in a brain scanner; Little Albert; reports from the Division of Occupational Psychology; and more


News, March 2012

the media; counselling psychology; benevolent sexism; Little Albert; 'Beyond boundaries' columns (and more in PDF version)

Letters, August 2011

avatar therapy; MyConnectome; charitable giving; new Little Albert theory; registered reports; a review of a one-day conference on scientific research with psychedelic drugs 


News, July 2013

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Summary. It is argued that moral values are learnt in the course of the child's development, and that consequently any theory regarding their development should be based on the known facts and principles of modern learning theory. An attempt has been made to do so by suggesting that ‘conscience’ is, in fact, a conditioned response built up during the child's formative years by the pairing of conditioned stimuli (arising from aggressive, predatory, and overtly sexual actions) and unconditioned stimuli (slaps, beatings, ‘shaming’, and other punishments) immediately following the conditioned stimulus. Aided by a process of stimulus generalization this should, in course of time, lead to an association between the conditioned stimulus and the fear‐anxiety responses appropriate to the unconditioned stimulus. Certain deductions are made from this hypothesis and are shown to be supported by experimental evidence. It is argued in particular that if the hypothesis is correct, then individual differences in conditionability, i.e., the ease with which conditioned responses are formed, should be related to moral behaviour and the ease with which guilt feelings are aroused. Here also evidence is quoted to suggest that this hypothesis has some foundation in fact. It is concluded that the treatment which children, adolescents, and adults receive in response to immoral acts, should be based upon the recognition of individual differences between them, particularly with respect to their conditionability, as only in this way will the most beneficial results of such treatment be realized.

SYMPOSIUM: THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL VALUES IN CHILDREN

Animal phobias are one of the most prevalent mental disorders. We analysed how fear and disgust, two emotions involved in their onset and maintenance, are elicited by common phobic animals. In an online survey, the subjects rated 25 animal images according to elicited fear and disgust. Additionally, they completed four psychometrics, the Fear Survey Schedule II (FSS), Disgust Scale – Revised (DS‐R), Snake Questionnaire (SNAQ), and Spider Questionnaire (SPQ). Based on a redundancy analysis, fear and disgust image ratings could be described by two axes, one reflecting a general negative perception of animals associated with higher FSS and DS‐R scores and the second one describing a specific aversion to snakes and spiders associated with higher SNAQ and SPQ scores. The animals can be separated into five distinct clusters: (1) non‐slimy invertebrates; (2) snakes; (3) mice, rats, and bats; (4) human endo‐ and exoparasites (intestinal helminths and louse); and (5) farm/pet animals. However, only snakes, spiders, and parasites evoke intense fear and disgust in the non‐clinical population. In conclusion, rating animal images according to fear and disgust can be an alternative and reliable method to standard scales. Moreover, tendencies to overgeneralize irrational fears onto other harmless species from the same category can be used for quick animal phobia detection.

Scary and nasty beasts: Self-reported fear and disgust of common phobic animals

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