Psychology Classics: The Case of Little Albert Conditioned Emotional Reactions by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner is one of the most influential, infamous and iconic research articles ever published in the history of psychology. Commonly referred to as "The Case of Little Albert" this psychology classic attempted to show how fear could be induced in an infant through classical conditioning. Originally published in 1920, Conditioned Emotional Reactions remains among the most frequently cited journal articles in introductory psychology courses and textbooks. A psychology classic is by definition a must read. However, most seminal texts within the discipline remain unread by a majority of psychology students. A detailed, well written description of a classic study is fine to a point, but there is absolutely no substitute for understanding and engaging with the issues under review than by reading the authors unabridged ideas, thoughts and findings in their entirety. Bonus Material: One of the most dramatic aspects of Watson and Rayner's original study was that they had planned to test a number of methods by which they could remove Little Albert's conditioned fear responses. However, as Watson noted "Unfortunately Albert was taken from the hospital the day the above tests were made. Hence the opportunity of building up an experimental technique by means of which we could remove the conditioned emotional responses was denied us." This unforeseen turn of events was something that obviously stayed with Watson, as under his guidance some three years later, Mary Cover Jones conducted a follow-up study - A Laboratory Study of Fear: The Case of Peter - which illustrated how fear may be removed under laboratory conditions. This additional and highly relevant article is also presented in full. The Case of Little Albert has been produced as part of an initiative by the website All About Psychology to make important psychology publications widely available. www.all-about-psychology.com

Two veteran psychiatrists unravel the mystery of how thought and emotional patterns are passed from parents to children, generation after generation, "conditioning" each of us in ways that endure throughout our lives and affect all of our relationships. Living on Automatic not only introduces the concept of emotional conditioning, including how it occurs and becomes entrenched in our minds, but also explains how individuals can "decondition" themselves to become more adept at choosing and negotiating more rewarding relationships. Authored by two psychiatrists, the text draws from more than 80 years of their combined psychotherapy work with thousands of people. The authors focus on helping readers to understand their roles in relationships and to develop more rewarding relationships. Case studies and questions are provided to illustrate emotional conditioning and the personality roles that emerge from it. Readers will learn why people choose the mates that they do; why the ways we learn to relate as children often do not change later in life; and how to observe and engage in introspection to begin to decondition themselves from auto-pilot, knee-jerk emotional responses, allowing for the formation of better relationships with their spouse or partner, children, and other family members.

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Since the appearance of the treatise on "Schedules of Reinforcement" by Ferster and Skinner over two decades ago, the literature in behavior analysis, both experimental and applied, has been dominated by a range of studies dedi cated to providing ever more systematic and refined accounts of these "mainsprings of behavior control. " For the most part, the analysis has been pursued in the best traditions of "scientific methodology" with careful atten tion to the isolation of controlling variables in unitary form. Of late, relatively simple interaction effects have provided an important additional focus for more sophisticated analyses. It is clear, however, from even a cursory survey of the monumental research and conceptual analysis which is represented in this scholarly volume by Henton and Iversen that the surface ofthis complex "be havioral interactions" domain has barely been scratched. The primary focus of this pioneering effort extends the competing response analysis across all experimental schedules, both classical and instrumental, as well as the interactions between the two. Appropriately, the analysis empha sizes overt behavioral interactions, beginning with the simplest case of one operant and one respondent, and inevitably implicating more diverse and subtle interactions. As the analysis expands to include interactions between multiple recorded responses, increasingly more precise empirical specifications ofrecip rocal interactions in response probabilities are revealed independently of con ventional procedural labels (i. e. , operants, respondents, collaterals, adjunc tives, etc. ) and traditional theoretical distinctions.

Since classical times, philosophers and physicians have identified anger as a human frailty that can lead to violence and human suffering, but with the development of a modern science of abnormal psychology and mental disorders, it has been written off as merely an emotional symptom and excluded from most accepted systems of psychiatric diagnosis. Yet despite the lack of scientific recognition, anger-related violence is often in the news, and courts are increasingly mandating anger management treatment. It is time for a fresh scientific examination of one of the most fundamental human emotions and what happens when it becomes pathological, and this thorough, persuasive book offers precisely such a probing analysis.Using both clinical data and a variety of case studies, esteemed anger researchers Raymond A. DiGiuseppe and Raymond Chip Tafrate argue for a new diagnostic classification, Anger Regulation and Expression Disorder, that will help bring about clinical improvements and increased scientific understanding of anger. After situating anger in both historical and emotional contexts, they report research that supports the existence of several subtypes of the disorder and review treatment outcome studies and new interventions to improve treatment. The first book that fully explores anger as a clinical phenomenon and provides a reliable set of assessment criteria, it represents a major step toward establishing the clear definitions and scientific basis necessary for assessing, diagnosing, and treating anger disorders.