Home›Open Questions›Who was the infant known as Little Albert in Watson and Rayner's 1920 conditioning experiment?Open QuestionsWho was the infant known as Little Albert in Watson and Rayner's 1920 conditioning experiment?Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextPsychology Atlas. "Who was the infant known as Little Albert in Watson and Rayner's 1920 conditioning experiment?." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-psychology.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/little-albert-identity.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextPsychology Atlas. (n.d.). Who was the infant known as Little Albert in Watson and Rayner's 1920 conditioning experiment?. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-psychology.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/little-albert-identityCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{psychologyatlas-who-was-the-infant-known-as-little-alber, author = {Psychology Atlas}, title = {Who was the infant known as Little Albert in Watson and Rayner's 1920 conditioning experiment?}, year = {2026}, url = {https://dev-psychology.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/little-albert-identity}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXOpen QuestionCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Open QuestionBeck and Levinson (2009) identified Little Albert as Douglas Merritte, who died at age 6 of congenital hydrocephalus, but a competing claim by Powell et al. holds he was Albert Barger, arguing Merritte was completely blind, incompatible with the infant's observed behavior in the surviving films.What would resolve this Further historical-archival research, medical records verification, or re-analysis of the surviving experimental films against each candidate's documented medical history.OpenHistory of psychology / archival scholarshipWikipedia: Little Albert experimentCross-Tradition ConnectionsQuestion OnThe Little Albert Experiment, Studies and Experiments Well-attested Source Wikipedia: Little Albert experimenttier 2SourcesWikipedia: Little Albert experimenttier 2Wikimedia FoundationJohn B. Watson section, Little Albert; and Little Albert experiment articleComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year