Which phrase best describes the conditioning method used in Watson and Rayner's study?

In Watson and Rayner's study, the conditioning method primarily employed was classical conditioning. This psychological principle involves the learning process where an individual comes to associate a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus, leading to a conditioned response.

In their famous experiment with Little Albert, a young child, they paired a loud, frightening noise (the unconditioned stimulus) with a white rat (the neutral stimulus). Over time, Little Albert began to fear the rat simply because it had been associated with the loud noise. This illustrates how classical conditioning works—through repeated pairings, the previously neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits a fear response on its own.

The other options suggest different processes that do not align with the methodology of Watson and Rayner's research. Positive reinforcement involves adding a stimulus to increase a behavior, while negative reinforcement involves removing an aversive stimulus to increase behavior, both of which pertain to operant conditioning. Lastly, operant conditioning focuses on the relationship between behaviors and their consequences and is not the basis of the conditioning used in Watson and Rayner's study.