In 1920, John Watson and Rosalie Rayner claimed to have conditioned a baby boy, Albert, to fear a laboratory rat. In subsequent tests, they reported that the child's fear generalized to other furry objects. After the last testing session, Albert disappeared, creating one of the greatest mysteries in the history of psychology. This article…

Analyzes associative structures underlying goal-directed behavior using well-developed techniques for studying Pavlovian conditioning. Identifies the roles of the stimulus, response, and reinforcer in instrumental learning. A response and its reinforcer must be associated for acquisition and maintenance of instrumental behavior. (Author/LHW)

Today, the term 'behavior therapy' has no clear denotation. Those who adhere to the more delimited meanings of behavior therapy tend to disregard significant nonbehavioral therapeutic development. They also overlook convincing data demonstrating that in adult humans, conditioning is produced through cognitive mediation. Adoption of a more…

Provides an overview of the current methods of behavior modification, reviews some critical issues, such as fear of control, use of aversive control, and behavior modification in prisons, in an effort to aid in differentiating warranted from unwarranted concerns. Ethical standards and practices are discussed. (Author/AM)

Examines how the contributions of animal research are presented in eight of the most widely used introductory psychology textbooks. The authors show that, with the exception of principles of conditioning and learning, the contributions of animal research are often not explicitly acknowledged or are obscured to look like they had been obtained with…