The Little Albert Experiment published in 1920 by John. B Watson is a well-known and controversial psychological experiment with the purpose of proving the effects of conditioning in an emotionally healthy child. In this experiment, an infant was conditioned to fear a white rat (which he had no prior phobia of before), by clanging a metal rod loudly every time the rat was presented to the child, making the baby cry and crawl away. This caused further generalizations of fear for the infant, making him scared of things like rabbits, furry dogs, and even Santa Claus. The experiment was considered unethical because the conditioning of fear, like any other negative conditioning, denied the infant its natural mental growth and development. According …show more content…
The introduction of the cycle of abuse, misogyny, and self objectification starts early in Firdaus’ short life. She describes the genital mutilation she was subject to at a very young age as “They cut off a piece of flesh from between my thighs.” (12) and by the disconnection of her flesh and her body, it is hinted that she is already viewing herself as an object. Furthermore, the actual event of her clitoridectomy, is strongly rooted in the very basis of gender inequality, and sexist views on the importance of purity and control of a woman’s sexuality, and is damaging to both Firdaus’ physical body but her mental growth as well. Firdaus also recalls her relationship with Mohammadain, a childhood friend of hers, who she played “bride and bridegroom” (12) with, as possibly one of the only positive and innocent sexual relationships Firdaus experiences throughout the course of her life. …show more content…
This pattern starts with her uncle, and then Ms. Iqbal, a teacher at her boarding school who offers solace to Firdaus when she is crying. Firdaus soon becomes nearly obsessive of Ms. Iqbal and it is obvious that she admires her greatly, saying that when she held Ms. Iqbal’s hand she felt “her body tremble with a deep distant pleasure” (30), showing that Firdaus’ abuse hasn’t caused an aversion to relationships or trust of people, but rather caused her to feel so insignificant that even a small amount of attention or tenderness from someone can make her feel adoration towards them. Shortly following her return from boarding school, Firdaus listens to her uncle and his wife talk of their plans to marry her off to an old man named Sheikh Mahmoud, and subsequently, to her uncle raping his wife. The next morning, Firdaus attempts to escape her uncle’s plans for her but is frightened by a man’s gaze on the street, and returns. This is Firdaus’ first of many attempts of escape, and is the beginning of a general pattern. When she is married to Sheikh Mahmoud, a repulsive and abusive man, Firdaus states that each time, after he would touch her, she would slip to the bathroom and wash every part of her body “going over it several times with soap and water” (46); this is a desperate
In the following essay I will be looking into the study conducted by Watson and Rayner (1920) on a small child known as ‘Little Albert’. The experiment was an adaptation of earlier studies on classical conditioning of stimulus response, one most common by Ivan Pavlov, depicting the conditioning of stimulus response in dogs. Watson and Rayner aimed to teach Albert to become fearful of a placid white rat, via the use of stimulus associations, testing Pavlov’s earlier theory of classical conditioning.
In Duras’ The Lover her narrator is a young but has intense sexual desire. Early on the main character also has a very strong sense of self confidence and self awareness. It is surprising for such a young girl, but as we learn she is much more curious than the average fifteen year old. She wants to be with an older man even if it is against what her family and others believe. Duras shows how females are portrayed as objects or sex symbols in t...
On various occasions, the girl is depicted as having an almost toy-like quality, in which she can only be controlled and manipulated by her husband. On page 10, the text remarks, “he had invited me to join this gallery of beautiful women” (Carter 10). Such is only one instance in the story when the female character is being demonstrated as an object simply for show and display to the rest of the world. When the couple is about to have sex, the description of the wife in terms of her husband’s actions, corresponds to the qualities of other objects. For example, it is described, “as if he were stripping the leaves off an artichoke,” and that “he closed my legs like a book” (Carter 15). Both of these examples are in regards to inanimate objects, which can be utilized and controlled. This mimics the assertive and manipulative quality that the husband male figure has over the objectified woman. Nevertheless, in both stories, the classic by Perrault and the modern by Carter, this idea of objectification reaches it’s culminating point in the sense that the husbands’ murders of their wives are a way of literally collecting them and holding them in a room for their
She tells the girl to “walk like a lady” (320), “hem a dress when you see the hem coming down”, and “behave in front of boys you don’t know very well” (321), so as not to “become the slut you are so bent on becoming” (320). The repetition of the word “slut” and the multitude of rules that must be obeyed so as not to be perceived as such, indicates that the suppression of sexual desire is a particularly important aspect of being a proper woman in a patriarchal society. The young girl in this poem must deny her sexual desires, a quality intrinsic to human nature, or she will be reprimanded for being a loose woman. These restrictions do not allow her to experience the freedom that her male counterparts
In Christina Rosseti “Goblin Market” and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, both authors mythologize homosexuality and the structures which hinder the agency of homoeroticism within the sphere of homosocial women’s relations; and in doing this, Rossetti and Le Fanu symbolize representations of these structures and shed a light on their society’s attitudes towards feminine desire, longing, and, ultimately, lesbianism. Their use of symbolism allegorizes their respective stories so to comment, or illuminate/challenge the realities of the Hellenistic sisterhoods of the Victorian Era, the myth of the female orgasm, and the interior/exterior representations of the patriarchal influence on women’s sexuality; being that Le Fanu’s Carmilla projects a vampiric connotation on female sexuality to its readers perpetuating the patriarchal agenda of demonizing a women’s desire, while Rosetti’s Goblins, as representation of the
The effects of this experience, although unethical in its approach to conduct experiment without knowledge to the parents it does not rise to the level of harm. It can, however, be argued that it has had an effect on them emotionally and perhaps they may experience further complications, but far greater atrocities have occurred in the name of science and in this particular case, no credible data ever developed from this experiment due to it being
Eupriedes, Medea and Sappho’s writing focus on women to expose the relationships between a variety of themes and the general ideal that women are property. The main characters in both pieces of literature demonstrate similar situations where love and sex result in a serious troll. These themes affected their relationship with themselves and others, as well as, incapability to make decisions which even today in society still affects humans. Headstrong actions made on their conquest for everlasting love connects to sacrifices they made to achieve their goal which ultimately ended in pain. Love and sex interferes with development of human emotions and character throughout the course
The novel Women at Point Zero starts off with a psychiatrist who is looking for women to research at a women’s prison. When Nawal speaks to the prison doctor, he mentions to her that there is a woman in one of the prisons, who is a lot different than the others, a relentless prisoner named Firdaus. With her abnormal habits of rarely eating, sleeping, talking or accepting people to visit her, the doctor imagines that this women couldn’t have been capable of committing a murder. When Nawal goes to try and speak with her, she is shocked to witness the women refuse her presence and in turn disrupts her own self-confidence. After many unsuccessful attempts to interview Firdaus, Nawal sees that there is no hope and begins to leave the prison. Soon after, she is startled to have a imperative message brought to her stating that Firdaus wanted to speak to her. When walking in to meet with her, Firdaus instantly tells Nawal to sit down, close the window, and listen to what she has to say. She then tells her that she is scheduled to be executed that evening and would like to voice her life story to her.
walking off as if nothing just happened right in front of them. No one walks over to the man to
The Little Albert experiment has become a widely known case study that is continuously discussed by a large number of psychology professionals. In 1920, behaviorist John Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner began to conduct one of the first experiments done with a child. Stability played a major factor in choosing Albert for this case study, as Watson wanted to ensure that they would do as little harm as possible during the experiment. Watson’s method of choice for this experiment was to use principles of classic conditioning to create a stimulus in children that would result in fear. Since Watson wanted to condition Albert, a variety of objects were used that would otherwise not scare him. These objects included a white rat, blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat, wool, and a Santa Claus mask. Albert’s conditioning began with a series of emotional tests that became part of a routine in which Watson and Rayner were determining whether other stimuli’s could cause fear.
...t of Firdaus and also allows better understanding of her motives and desperation to be free, having been surveilled and captive all her life. The theme of captivity is significant in making readers question their own lifestyles as Firdaus does, either making us count our blessings or query as to if we are all captive in some smaller way. By repeating the theme of captivity in a variety of ways throughout, El Saadawi furthermore ensures it is brought to the readers full attention, provoking us either into action to ensure less captivity for women like Firdaus or into guilt over our assumedly freer lives. The continually captive and oppressed Firdaus is symbolic of any woman today subject to captivity and injustices from their societies, and in a world where this continually occurs this theme is both universally significant and relevant in the modern societies today.
Throughout Woman at Point Zero, Nawal El Saadawi presents Firdaus to be on the ongoing search to increase and justify her self-worth. Firdaus learns how to attain her self-worth in different ways from different people, however each contributor of self-worth was dependent on money. Firdaus discovers the value of education from her uncle, appearance from Sharifa and her most profound moment on her own. Throughout Firdaus’ life her uncle’s money allows for education, her solicited money affords an upper class disguise but the ultimate distinction of her self-worth occurs when she finally overcomes that value of money.
Watson did not debrief either Albert or his parents about the nature of the study. The study’s purpose was to induce an emotional response of fear into this young child. Watson both physically and mentally harmed the child, possibly leaving Albert emotionally traumatized by the experiment. To add,
The character of Firdaus in Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi is seen to be influenced by several circumstances which changes her unique perspective of life overall. Some of the dominant and prevailing forces that cause Firdaus to experience several metamorphoses were exerted by men upon her. Throughout the novel, Firdaus reveals her resentment against men as she believes that the male sex has only used her and has undermined her dignity and pride. The control that men have upon her not only changes her perspective towards her standards in society but also in her life to a certain extent where it caused Firdaus to measure and reevaluate her level of self-worth and as a person.
Jhon B Watson, a behaviorist, conducted an experiment inspired by the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov to determinate the classical condition in humans. Little Albert experiment was conducted in a 9 month old baby whom a rat is showed to see his r...