John B. Watson - 1440 Words

[Email Page] [Add to Folder] [Printable Page] Watson, John B. Born : 1878 Died : 1958 Nationality : American Occupation : psychologist RELATED BIOGRAPHIES: †¢ Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich †¢ Skinner, B. F. (Ethics) RELATED ESSAYS: †¢ Ethics in Advertising and Science †¢ Rights of Human Research Participants John Broadus Watson was one of the most controversial leading figures in American psychology. A pioneer in behaviorism, Watson wrote accessible books promoting the behaviorist agenda that garnered considerable public attention. The cornerstone of behaviorist psychology was the view that behavior should be studied as a product of objectively observable external events instead of†¦show more content†¦Watsons claims about the role of conditioning in behavioral development were exaggerated. He created a mountain of speculation out of a molehill of evidence. Watson was an outstanding popularizer and advocate for his point of view. This is illustrated most clearly in his celebrated dictum: Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and Ill guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant chief, and yes, even beggar-man thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors (Behaviorism, p. 104). The confidence that Watson expresses in the limitless malleability of human behavior has very little to do with the results of his research and has a great deal to do with the democratic spirit, and affluence of the America in which he lived. In fact, given that no one was likely to volunteer their well-formed healthy infant for Watsons experiment, his statement reduces to a purely rhetorical gesture that has nothing to do with science as such. Watsons focus on unconditioned responses inevitably sparked renewed interest in the physiologicalShow MoreRelated John B. Watson2181 Words   |  9 PagesJohn Broadus Watson was a famous American psychologist who lived between 1878 and 1958. He was born in Greenville, South Carolina to Pickens and Emma Watson and was the fourth of six children. The family was not well off financially and John did not have an easy childhood. In spite of the poverty that engulfed the family, John’s father turned into an alcoholic who cared less for his family. However, Emma, John’s mother was a devoted religious woman who struggled to take care of her children withRead MoreBiography Of John B. Watson1180 Words   |  5 PagesJohn B. Watson has been credited for founding the school of behaviourism in 1913, his now renown lecture given at Columbia University begun the official founding of behaviourism and he became well-known for his â€Å"Little Albert† study that demonstrated ho w experience rearranged the stimuli that caused emotional responses such as fear, rage and love. Watson may have founded behaviourism but he paved the way for many individual functionalists such as Ivan Sechenov, Ivan Pavlov, and Vladimir BechterevRead MoreThe Little Albert Experiment By John B. Watson997 Words   |  4 PagesThroughout psychology we have learned a variety of experiments that have made an impact toward the field of psychology. One important experiment that was significant in the field was the â€Å"Little Albert Experiment† by John B. Watson. John B. Watson was a behaviorist where he wanted to conduct an experiment that further Ivan Pavlov research on classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a theory engages a new behavior through the process of association. This theory includes three stages of classicalRead MoreJohn B. Watson s Theory Of Psychology1048 Words   |  5 PagesJohn B. Watson was a great American psychologist whose theories, publicatio ns, and experiments had an enduring influence on psychology. Possibly his biggest contributions to psychology were his theory of behaviorism and his experiment on Little Albert. Though Watson’s experiments were extremely unethical and behaviorism doesn’t account for biological psychology, Watson was an extremely remarkable psychologist because of his principal of behaviorism and his findings on classical conditioning. BackgroundRead MoreJohn B. Watson s Article Summary Essay1765 Words   |  8 PagesSummary One of the most famous American Psychologists, John B. Watson, conducted numerous experiments that helped establish a clearer understanding of how the human brain associates response to certain situations. In one of his more famous experiments, Watson tested the conditioned emotional response of a small child. This child, Albert, was eleven months old and was one of â€Å"the most developed youngsters ever brought to the hospital† (Watson, 1). It was noted that he never presented fear in any situationRead MoreThe Little Albert Experiment, By John B. Watson And Mary Cover Jones Hope973 Words   |  4 Pagesfear? These are some of the questions that John B. Watson and Mary Cover Jones hope to answer The little Albert Experiment According to Schultz and Schultz (2012), the little Albert Experiment was an example of stimulus generalization. This experiment was conducted by John B. Watson and his graduate student Rosalie Rayner, at Johns Hopkins University. John B. Watson showed evidence of Classical conditioning in his experiment with little Albert. As Mr. Watson began to show the child a series of objectsRead MoreHow Two Incredibly Innovative Behavior Theorists During Their Time Were By John B. Watson1014 Words   |  5 Pagestime were, John B. Watson, and B. F. Skinner. The spark of the behaviorism movement began after Watson published the classic article Psychology as the behaviorist views it in 1913 (McLeod, 2004). John B. Watson’s prestigious career began in 1903 when he learned his doctorate degree in psychology with a minor in philosophy. Soon after Watson was hired as an instructor at the same place he earned his doctorate degree, the University of Chicago (Watson, 1999). A mere year later, Watson was hired asRead MoreThe Conditioning Of Fear By John B. Watson915 Words   |  4 Pages The Conditioning of Fear John B. Watson was an American psychologist who established behaviorism. He assumed that psychology should study only objective behavior due to the conscience or psyche aspect being difficult to measure. Watson stated that psychology’s â€Å"theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior† (Clavijo 379). Watson believed that â€Å"conditioning procedure† would contribute to analyzing the â€Å"conscious† (Hall 186). In other words, behavior is the relationship between thoughtsRead MoreThe John B Watson s Life860 Words   |  4 Pages` John B Watson In 1878 John B Watson was born to Emma and Pickens Watson. A poor family in Greenville, South Carolina, his mother was very religious. John s father, with whom he was closer, did not follow the same rules of living as his mother. He drank, had extra-marital affairs, and left in 1891. Eventually John married Mary Ikes whom he met at the University of Chicago. Together they had two children, Mary and John. And, like his father, had affairs with a number of women. John and Mary finallyRead MoreJohn B. Watson s Theory Of Psychology1266 Words   |  6 PagesJohn B. Watson Psychologists have been focused on observing and understanding human behavior for centuries, dating back to the Greek philosophers when psychology and philosophy were considered one.Today, Psychology is the study of human behavior, beginning before birth and lasting until death. It is clear that the observance human behavior is a vast and profound source of data for psychologists. Early philosophers relied on methods of observation and logic. A physiologist named Wilhelm Wundt in