The life and times of John B Watson

MARWA ABDUSSALAMSECOND SEMESTER PSYCHOLOGY

Place photo here

Place photo here

John B Watson’s childhood • Watson was born on January

9,1878 in Greenville , South Carolina.

• His mother Emma Roe Watson was very religious and wanted her son to be a minister.

• His father Pickens Butler Watson left the family when Watson was a youngster.

• This made Watson’s behavior change for the worse.

• He acted out against his mother and teachers and not until he was in college did he turn his life around.

Watson’s family and his house

The picture shown here is of Watson’s family.

The picture shown here is of Watson’s house.

Watson’s education• Watson was an American

psychologist who codified and publicized ‘behaviorism’.

• Watson matriculated at nearby Furman University and graduated from the same and earned a master’s degree by the age of 21.

• He then was a school principal for one year before entering the graduate school at Chicago.

• Watson was the first to receive a doctoral degree in psychology.

BEHAVIORISM

Watson’s professional life• He soon became interested in

Russian conditioning studies.• He stayed at Chicago for several

years and continued his studies on animal behavior.

• While at Chicago, he married Mary Ickes.

• Twelve Infant quote• In 1907,Watson was hired as an

associate professor in John Hopkins

University.

Watson’s professional life

• While teaching at Hopkins, he set up a laboratory, where he ran a variety of psychological experiments in the direction of animal behavior.

• In 1913,he published “Psychology: as a Behaviorist views it”

• In 1914, he published “Behavior: an Introduction to comparative psychology”.

• In 1915,he was elected the president of American Psychological Association.

• Watson published “Behaviorism” in 1925, “Psychological Care of Infant and Child” in 1928.

A turning point in Watson’s life• A career crisis occurred in

1920 with an abrupt dismissal from Hopkins because of an affair with his graduate student assistant, Rosalie Rainer.

• They subsequently married and together published two important papers on human conditioning and counter Conditioning: ‘Studies in infant behavior’ and ‘Conditioned Emotional reactions’.

Little Albert experiment• Although Watson had many accomplishments

throughout his career, the one that is most popular is his experiment on ‘little Albert’.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBfnXACsOI

Watson joins advertising agency• Watson was very upset to be excluded by the

academic community following the scandal that led to his resignation at Hopkins.

• He moved to New York with his new wife and took up a job with J Walter Thompson advertising agency.

• He studied advertising and how it motivates people’s purchasing.

• He believed that in order for advertisements to be effective it should appeal to three innate emotions : love , fear and rage.

• In 1935,Watson switched jobs to become advertising executive at the William Etsy Company where he remained until his retirement in 1945.

Watson Remembered• Although Watson’s resignation left him excluded by

the academic community, he received a citation from APA in 1957 for his contributions to psychology.

• In April 1979, a symposium at Furman honored the centennial of Watson’s birth.

• The laboratories at Furman were given Watson’s name as the most distinguished alumnus of the department.

• Watson expired on September 25,1958.

Laboratory at Furman

Watson’s son and grandson

On the left is Jim Watson, Watson’s son and on the right is Scott Watson, Watson’s grandson.