Describe the procedure that Watson and Mary Cover Jones used to extinguish Peter’s fear of rabbits.
Watson and Mary Cover Jones worked on those children as their subjects who already had some kind of fear developed within them. Both of them found a child named Peter who had fear of rabbits, frogs, mechanical toys, white rats, fur coats, and fish.
They both started by making Peter see other children playing bravely with the same objects with which he never played and kept a distance because of his fear and observed some improvements. This technique is known as modeling. This technique is in use even nowadays.
At one point of time, Peter got scarlet fever. After recovery, he and his nurse got attacked by a dog while returning back home from the hospital, and Peter experienced all of his fears again in a giant form. Watson and Jones tried the technique of counter conditioning on Peter.
Peter used to take his lunch in a 40 feet long room. One day, he was shown a rabbit kept in a cage at a distance such that he did not get afraid. They tried to move the rabbit closer day by day until the day when they were close enough. Finally, Peter could get over his fear and play with the rabbit. The results were generalized and most of the fears of Peter were also reduced or eliminated. This was called as behavior therapy.