Little Peter, Cover Jones (1924)

Aim
To investigate whether a phobia in a little boy could be deconditioned and whether this would generalize to other objects.

Procedure
Peter was 2 years old when Jones began observing him. He had a phobia of white rats. His reaction to different objects was observed. His fear of the white rat was generalized to other objects. Peter was also shown a rabbit and he was more afraid of the rabbit than the white rat, so a rabbit was used for deconditioning. Peter had daily play sessions with three other children and the rabbit, which the other children did not fear. Other children were role models(Social learning theory was used), classical conditioning was used. New situations were used to get Peter closer to the rabbit. Eventually, he manages to associate the rabbit with relaxation and is deconditioned.

Findings/Results
Peter’s behaviour improved and worsened, eg. when he was scratched by the rabbit

Six people were given the descriptions of his reactions in a random order and asked to put them in order of improvement (tolerance series). He sometimes got better and he sometimes got worse.

Conclusion
Both classical conditioning and social learning theory helped to decondition Peter. The deconditioning also reduced generalised fears and helped Peter to cope with new animals.