The Case of Little Albert

[rj]

Is there also a Freudian case to do with a "little Hans"? I remember
reading a critique of William Gass's story 'The Pedersen Kid' (from *In
the Heart of the Heart of the Country*: highly recommended) which
suggested that the character's name derived from one of Freud's clinical
studies. There was a connection with infant penises, too, I think,
though I'm not sure if it was part of the experiment or simply Gass's
obsession with protagonists who are obsessed by the fact of their small
members.

best


> On Sat, 9 Oct 1999, Murthy Yenamandra wrote:
> 
> > I've been reading _The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the
> > Bicameral Mind_ by Julian Jaynes and came across the famous case of
> > "Little Albert" - an early experiment (1920s) in conditioning of fear in
> > infants by the psychologist J. B. Watson (father of behaviorism in the
> > US).  I've never seen this mentioned on the list before, so I hope it's
> > not old news to most of you.  Here is a description of the experiment,
> > cribbed from the webpage http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/80337/6215m3f.htm:
> 
> It's what gave Dr. Lazlo Jamf the idea for Infant Tyrone--p. 84.
> 
> Somehow I'd had the erroneous impression it had been  Watson and Raynor's  
> own child being experimented on. Glad to get this new info.
> 
>                         P.