Frederick Payne Watts facts for kids

Frederick Payne Watts (born 1904 in Staunton, Virginia, died 2007) was an American psychologist. He was known for his many studies on how people think and behave.

Early Life and Education

Frederick Payne Watts was born in 1904 in Staunton. His parents were Charles H. and Harriett Watts. He was one of five children. Even though his family didn't have much money, they strongly encouraged their children to get a good education.

His father loved to read and worked hard in farming or maintenance. His mother stayed home to raise the children. Young Frederick was inspired by both his parents. He went to public schools in Washington, D.C..

After finishing Dunbar High School in 1922, Watts went to Howard University. At first, he wanted to become an eye doctor (an ophthalmologist). But soon, he became very interested in psychology. He wanted to understand "why people misbehave."

He studied under a professor named Albert Beckham, who helped him love psychology even more. In 1926, Watts earned his bachelor's degree in psychology and French. He also received a special teaching scholarship. This scholarship helped him get his master's degree.

After teaching for a year at Kittrell College in North Carolina, he came back to Washington, D.C. He took a job as a teacher at Howard University. At that time, the psychology department was very small. It was just Watts and Francis Sumner until another professor joined them in 1930.

Professional Career

While at Howard University, Watts worked with Francis Sumner. They wrote important papers for the new field of Black psychology. Together, they published a study called "Rivalry Between Uniocular Negative After Images and the Vision of the Other Eye." Watts also wrote his own research paper, A Comparative and Clinical Study of Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Negro Boys.

Watts stayed at Howard until 1942. This was one year after he earned his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1941. University officials said he was the first African American to get a PhD from their university. He was also the fourth African American in the entire country to earn a PhD in psychology.

A year later, Watts joined the Army. His time in the Army helped him grow even more in his career. He worked as an officer who helped classify new soldiers. He also advised personnel. He set up places for psychological testing and helped counsel soldiers.

After leaving the Army as a captain, Dr. Watts became an assistant chief clinical psychologist. He worked for the Veterans Administration in Philadelphia.

Legacy and Later Life

Watts returned to Howard University in 1948. He worked there until he retired in 1970. When he came back, he started the Liberal Arts Counseling Service. This service later became the University Counseling Service. It helped all students at the university.

This counseling service allowed Watts to do what he loved full-time. It also gave him a steady place to work and a changing group of students. This helped him do many important studies about the university. Some of his studies included Initial Group Counseling of Freshmen and A Study of the College Environment.

Besides teaching psychology and leading the University Counseling Service, Watts was a Diplomat in Clinical Psychology. This means he was a highly recognized expert. He was also part of many top professional organizations.

After retiring from Howard in 1970, Watts remained very interested in counseling and clinical psychology. His wife, Louise Armstead Watts, passed away in 1974. Dr. Watts lived to be 103 years old. He died on April 7, 2007, at Howard University Hospital. He left behind four daughters, nine grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren.

Important Studies

In 1941, Watts published A Comparative Study of Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Negro Boys. He wanted to understand the psychological differences between boys who had gotten into trouble and those who hadn't. He used many different tests, like the Otis Self-Administering Test of Mental Ability and the Vineland Social Maturity Scale.

Watts studied 92 boys from a school for troubled children in Washington, D.C. He also studied 91 boys from the schools they attended before. All the boys were between 14 and 16 years old. Their average IQ was 77.

He wanted to see if there were differences in:

• How well they could solve practical problems.
• Their emotional stability and tendency to have behavior problems.
• Their social maturity.
• How the different tests related to each other.
• Differences found through a questionnaire.

Watts found that when age and general intelligence were the same, there was no big difference between the two groups of boys. This was true for their ability to handle real-life situations, emotional stability, and social maturity. He believed that other studies that found differences didn't control their experiments well enough.

Watts argued that it was hard to tell the difference between delinquent and non-delinquent boys just based on these tests. However, he did find differences in their interests, habits, and general attitudes. He also noticed that the boys who got into trouble had less control from their parents or other adults. This suggested that looking at home life might show important differences.

Freshman Expectations at Howard University

Watts also worked with James Stanfiel on a study about new students at Howard University. This study was called Freshman Expectations and Perceptions of the Howard University Environment. It looked at how new students first saw the school and how their views changed over time.

The authors believed that college teachers should understand how students see the school. This is important for the students' personal growth. They said, "If the people in charge of education don't know and care about students' experiences, feelings, and needs, the student might suffer. In the end, the school suffers too."

They studied about 1000 new students at Howard University in 1965-66. They used a tool called the (CUES). This tool has 150 true or false questions about college life. It has five sections:

• Practicality: How much the college focuses on personal success and benefits.
• Community: How friendly, close-knit, and group-oriented the campus is.
• Awareness: How much the college encourages self-understanding and searching for meaning.
• Propriety: How much politeness and good manners are emphasized.
• Scholarship: How much serious interest there is in academics and competition for good grades.

The students took the CUES test in September and again in January. Their results were compared to 48 other colleges, none of which were mainly black institutions.

Howard students expected a school that focused on excellent academics. They also wanted a place that supported their social and personal well-being. Many of their answers were similar to the "freshman myth" seen across the country. This is the idea that college will be perfect.

However, Howard students had some unique trends. They were more focused on practicality but less on awareness and propriety. When they took the test again in January, their views had changed a lot. They still saw the school as having a strong community, but it wasn't the "perfect place" they expected. Their scores for scholarship and awareness dropped significantly.

The researchers concluded that students felt some disappointment. While this was mild for some, it could be more serious for others. They argued that colleges needed to help correct these big misunderstandings. They thought some misunderstandings came from colleges "overselling" themselves. Also, the popular idea that college solves all problems contributed to this.