The Life of John B. Watson

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As I searched over the numerous website and psychology books trying to figure out who to write on for this research paper I stumbles upon a famous quote that captures my attention swiftly.
"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief….”
This quote was stated by none other than a determined man who is best known for behaviorism and the Little Albert experiment, John B. Watson. Mr. Watson’s life story intrigued me greatly to study his theory and also to write about it for my research paper. Mr. Watson didn’t have a “Brady Bunch family” where there was positivity and smiles all around in contrast; he had a hard life in his early stage but, managed to still excel in life. His work was based on the findings of Ivan Pavlov who discovered classical conditioning. (Theories of Learning in Educational Psychology , 2013) Mr. Watson made history by being the founder of behaviorism which paving the way for another pioneer of psychology Mr. Burrhus Frederic Skinner also known as B.F Skinner which discovered operant conditioning.
John Broadus Watson was born on January 9, 1878 in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. He was born to Mr. Pickens and Ms. Emma Watson. John’s mother, Emma was a very devoted and religious woman who did not encourage ungodly activities. She also named John after a pastor in hope that John will follow the footsteps of the man he was named after and join the church. (Good Therapy.Org, 2013) Pickens, John’s father was the very opposite of his mother he drank frequently and got in many problems with the law. As many say in today’s c...

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...ie over her. (Weiland) After the divorce was filed and finalized, John then remarried to Rosalie and they too had two children James and William.

Works Cited

http://www.faqs.org/health/bios/72/John-Broadus-Watson.html http://www3.niu.edu/acad/psych/Millis/History/2003/Watsonweb.htm http://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/john-watson.html# http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/johnbroaduswatson.html http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/637615/John-B-Watson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Watson http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/watson.htm http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/watson.htm http://www.brynmawr.edu/psychology/rwozniak/watson.html http://www.psych.utah.edu/gordon/Classes/Psy4905Docs/PsychHistory/Cards/Watson.html http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2543/Watson-John-B-1878-1958.html

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