Associationism is “a psychological theory which takes association to be the fundamental principle of mental life, in terms of which even the higher thought processes are to be
Your child shrieks, and runs away at the sight of a Frog; Let another catch it, and lay it down at a good distance from him: At first accustom him to look upon it; When he can do that, then come nearer to it, and see it leap without Emotion; then to touch it lightly when it is held fast in another’s hand; and so on, till he can come to handle it as confidently as a Butterfly, or a Sparrow. By the same way any other vain Terrors may be remov’d; if Care be taken, that you go not too fast, and push not the Child on to a new degree of assurance, till he be thor- oughly confirm’d in the former.
The advice given by Locke for dealing with irra- tional fears was remarkably similar to the kind of behavioral therapy employed many years later by Mary Cover Jones.
With the exception of teaching stress tolerance, Locke’s ideas concerning education now appear rather routine. They were, however, anything but routine when he first proposed them.