Little Albert

These three illustrations accompany a true story about a scientist who believed that phobias could be conditioned from birth - and to test this theory, he experimented on a little baby named Albert. Every time Albert touched a rat (which he was not scared of), the doctor would bang pots and pans very loudly behind his head. Eventually, Albert became scared of the rat without the pots and pans. This phobia expanded to include all furry things, even inanimate furry things.

It was the doctor's intention to un-phobia-ize Albert, but he never got around to it.