John B. Watson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John B. Watson
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| Born |
John Broadus Watson
January 9, 1878 |
| Died | September 25, 1958 (aged 80) |
| Education | Furman University (MA) University of Chicago (PhD) |
| Known for | Founding behaviorism Methodological behaviorism Behavior modification |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychology |
| Doctoral advisor | J. R. Angell |
| Other academic advisors | John Dewey, H. H. Donaldson, Jacques Loeb |
| Influences | Ivan Pavlov |
| Influenced | Leonard Bloomfield, Karl Lashley |
John Broadus Watson (January 9, 1878 – September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist. He made the scientific idea of behaviorism very popular. This made behaviorism a major way of thinking in psychology. Watson helped bring about this change with his 1913 talk at Columbia University. It was called Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It.
Through his behaviorist ideas, Watson studied animal behavior. He also looked into how children are raised and how advertising works. He was the editor of Psychological Review from 1910 to 1915. A survey in 2002 ranked Watson as the 17th most mentioned psychologist of the 20th century.
Contents
About John B. Watson
Early Life and Family
John Watson was born in South Carolina on January 9, 1878. His father left the family when John was 13 years old. His mother was a very religious woman. She hoped John would become a preacher. She gave him strict religious training. This made Watson dislike religion for the rest of his life.
To escape being poor, Watson's mother sold their farm. She moved John to Greenville, South Carolina. This move was important for Watson. It let him meet many different kinds of people. He used these experiences to help form his ideas about psychology.
Watson married Mary Ickes when he was in graduate school. They had two children, John and Mary. Later, Watson's wife asked for a divorce. Because of this, Watson left his job at Johns Hopkins University in October 1920.
In 1920, after his divorce, Watson married Rosalie Rayner. She was his assistant. They had two sons, William and James. These sons were raised using the behaviorist ideas that Watson believed in. Watson and Rayner stayed together until she passed away in 1935 at age 36.
Later Years and Legacy
Watson burned many of his personal letters and papers. This means historians lost valuable information about him. It also made it harder to understand the early history of behaviorism.
In 1957, Watson received a Gold Medal. This award was from the American Psychological Association. It honored his important work in psychology. Watson lived on his farm until he passed away in 1958 at age 80. He was buried in Willowbrook Cemetery in Westport, Connecticut.
Watson's Education
Watson did not do well in school at first. But his mother's connections helped him get into Furman University at age 16. He took some psychology classes there. He thought of himself as a poor student. He worked several jobs to pay for college. Others saw him as quiet and lazy. He felt he was "unsocial" and made few friends. Still, Watson was a smart student. He earned a master's degree at age 21.
After graduating, Watson worked for a year at a small school. He was the principal, janitor, and handyman. Then, he got into the University of Chicago. This was a big step for him. His time there introduced him to professors and friends. They helped him make psychology a respected field of study.
Watson studied philosophy under John Dewey. Other professors like James Rowland Angell also influenced him. These teachers helped Watson develop a clear and objective way to study behavior. He later called this approach behaviorism. Watson wanted psychology to be more scientific. He believed his approach could make it a true science. Later, Watson became interested in the work of Ivan Pavlov. He included some of Pavlov's ideas in his own popular writings.
Watson earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1903. His paper was about how rats learn. He showed that how well rats learned was linked to their brain development. Watson stayed at the University of Chicago for five years. He researched how senses affect learning. He found that the sense of body movement helped rats run through mazes. In 1908, Watson accepted a job at Johns Hopkins University. He quickly became the head of the psychology department.
Understanding Behaviorism
In 1913, Watson published an important article. It was called "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It." People also called it "The Behaviorist Manifesto."
Watson's idea of behaviorism focused on how people act. It looked at their reactions to different situations. He believed this was more important than their inner thoughts or feelings. He thought that studying behaviors and reactions was the only true way to understand human actions. Watson said this new way of thinking would start a new era in psychology.
Watson's behaviorism did not support studying consciousness. He believed it could not be studied. He felt that past attempts to study it had stopped psychology from growing. He pushed for psychology to stop being the science of the 'mind'. Instead, he said psychology should focus on the 'behavior' of a person.
Language, Speech, and Memory
Watson believed that mental activity could not be seen. In his 1924 book, Behaviorism, Watson shared his ideas on language. He also discussed what words and memory truly are. He said they are all ways humans use their bodies to think. Watson used stories about animals to explain his behaviorist views.
Watson called language a "manipulative habit." He said that when we speak, the sound comes from our larynx. This is a body part we use to make sounds. As we change our throat and tongue, different sounds are made. Watson explained that babies learn language by crying or saying "da" or "ma." He and his wife did an experiment. They taught a baby to say "da-da" when he wanted his bottle. The baby learned it for a short time. Watson said that as the child grew, he would copy Watson. This showed that language is learned by copying.
Watson also said that "words are just replacements for objects and situations." In his baby experiment, the baby learned to say "da" for a bottle. Or "mama" for his mom. Watson said that babies build their language using sounds they already know. This is why babies might point to something but call it by a different word. Finally, Watson explained how a child learns to read. A parent points at each word and reads it. The child learns to connect the word with the sound.
Watson believed this was the start of memory. All these ideas make up our memory. He said we carry this memory throughout our lives. Watson told a story about Mr. Addison Sims to show this. Mr. Sims met an old friend. The friend remembered many things they did together. But Mr. Sims could not remember the friend's name. Watson said that if they did some of their old activities, the memory would come back.
Studying Emotions
Watson was interested in how emotions are learned. He thought that babies are born with three basic emotional reactions:
- Fear: This is caused by only two things naturally: a sudden loud noise or losing physical support. But older children fear many things. This means those fears are learned. You can see fear in babies by crying, fast breathing, closing eyes, or sudden jumping.
- Rage: This is a natural reaction when a child's body movement is stopped. If a very young child cannot move, they will scream and stiffen their body. Later, this reaction applies to other situations. For example, children get angry when forced to take a bath. These situations cause rage because they feel like being held back.
- Love: This is an automatic reaction from babies when they are tickled, patted, or gently stroked. The baby smiles, laughs, and shows other loving responses. Watson believed babies do not naturally love specific people. They learn to do so. A mother's face becomes linked with patting and stroking. So, it becomes a learned signal for affection towards her. Later, loving feelings for other people create the same response because they are linked to the mother.
Watson's Work with Children
Watson created a way to help children get over fears. He worked with a colleague, Mary Cover Jones. They used a set of steps to help a little boy named Peter. Peter seemed afraid of white rats and rabbits. Watson and Jones put Peter in his highchair. They gave him a snack. At the same time, a white rabbit in a cage was placed far enough away not to bother Peter. The next day, the rabbit was moved a bit closer. They did this until Peter showed a little worry. This was repeated day after day. Soon, Peter could eat his snack calmly with the rabbit right next to him. Peter even played with the rabbit afterward. This way of changing behavior is now called systematic desensitization.
In 1928, Watson wrote a book called Psychological Care of Infant and Child. His assistant and wife, Rosalie Rayner, helped him. In the book, Watson said children should be treated like young adults. He warned against mothers giving too much love and affection. Watson argued that love is learned. He said that society does not overly comfort young adults. So, parents should not create unrealistic expectations for children.
Watson also believed that nothing is natural. Instead, everything is built into a child through their surroundings. Parents, he said, are fully responsible. They choose the environment where their child grows up.
Child-rearing became Watson's most important interest. His book was very popular. It sold 100,000 copies in just a few months. Many people, even other psychologists, accepted his ideas. His focus on child development became a new trend. It influenced many who came after him.
Even though he wrote a lot about raising children, Watson later regretted it. He felt he "did not know enough" to do a good job.
Advertising Career
After leaving his university job, Watson started working in advertising. This was in late 1920. He learned all parts of the advertising business. He even worked as a shoe salesman in a fancy department store. Even with this humble start, Watson became a vice-president at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in less than two years. His salary and bonuses were much higher than his old academic pay.
Watson led many big advertising campaigns. He worked on products like Ponds cold cream. He is also known for making the "coffee break" popular. This was during an ad campaign for Maxwell House coffee.
Watson stopped writing for the public in 1936. He retired from advertising around age 65.
Selected Works
- 1907. "Kinaesthetic and Organic Sensations: Their Role in the Reactions of the White rat to the Maze."
- 1908. "The Behavior of Noddy and Sooty Terns."
- 1913. "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It."
- 1914. Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology.
- 1915. "Recent experiments with homing birds."
- 1920. "Conditioned emotional reactions," with Rosalie Rayner. — the Little Albert study.
- 1921. "Studies in Infant Psychology," with Rosalie Rayner.
- 1924. Behaviorism.
- 1928. Psychological Care of Infant and Child.
- 1936. "John Broadus Watson." — autobiography
See also
In Spanish: John B. Watson para niños
