Well, I can't improve on Allen Esterson's entertaining response to Cindy Mullis's suggestion that Freud let his patients think for themselves. But I've got another (good-natured) bone to pick with Cindy. It's this comment concerning the identity of Little Albert: > I swear that I saw him being > interviewed in some slice of video once . . . He was a young adult and > he said that he didn't remember anything about the conditioning > experiments at all. He also said that he wasn't afraid of white rats, > Santa Clause, seal skin coats, pubic hair - just kidding - and had no > emotional problems at all. It seems to me that he said that he found > out about the experiments when he took intro psych in college and it > piqued his interest because he knew that his family had lived near > Watson and knew either John or Ropsalie or maybe James - I'm fuzzy on > this part. But he knew that he had known the Watsons a long time ago > (bad sentence, I know), and sort of remembered that he had been to > their lab a bunch of times when he was a kid. His mother or father - > some relative - confirmed that there had been something about a rat or > rabbit, or something . . . they weren't quite sure . . . Well, > later all the evidence was assembled it it was established with > reasonable certainty that he had been little Albert. I can't remember > this film, where I saw it, or anything about how to find it. Has > anyone else ever heard of this film? I'd like to use it with my intro > students because I remember how big an impression it made on me. I > hope someone has seen or heard of this because the unpleasant > alternative is that it was a dream - the fulfillment of an unconscious > wish to have sex with John B. Watson . . .
This is also entertaining and would be great if true. But I think it improbable. All that Watson said about Albert was "This infant was reared almost from birth in a hospital environment; his mother was a wet nurse in the Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children. (Watson and Rayner, 1920). This suggests a rather large social and economic distance between Watson and that of Albert's mother, making it unlikely that there was social contact between them, and unlikely also that Albert had been to university. In fact, Frank Murray (1973) attempted to trace Albert, writing to the Harriet Lane Home at the Johns Hopkins Medical Centre He reported that the hospital librarian was unable trace Albert, and an inquiry to the medical records department failed as well. He apparently then gave up. So if there's a film of Little Albert no longer little, that would be remarkable news, and I'm sure it would be widely known. I think you did dream it, Cindy. And I refuse to comment on the "sex with Watson" interpretation. That's more Allen's department. Stephen Murray, F. (1973). In search of Albert. Professional Psychology, February, p. 5-6 ______________________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips _________________________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
