1 JB Watson By: Anna Sobal

2 “Men are built, not born…“Men are built, not born….give me the baby, and i’ll make it climb and use its hands in constructing buildings of stone or wood….I’ll make it a thief, a gunman or a dope fiend. The possibilities of shaping in any direction are almost endless…” - John B Watson

3 Introduction Important role in developing behaviorismBelieved that psychology should be primarily scientific observable behavior Little albert experiment

4 Childhood “John Broadus Watson”Named after a baptist minister in hopes he would join a clergy Born: January 9th, 1878 in Greenville, South Carolina 4th of 6 children Poor family Not much interaction with his father

5 Greenville, South CarolinaRural community Mostly made up of poor farmers and immigrants Traditional values and beliefs Impact of rural upbringing

6 Childhood home

7 Watson Family Photo

8 Father Pickens Butler Watson Died in 1930Black sheep of his 9 other brothers and sisters Ran away from home at age 16 to join the army Alcoholic Married Emma Roe Family considered her to be inferior to their social standards so kicked him out of the family Known as lazy, wanderer, and a delinquent Had multiple affairs Secret marriage Died in 1930

9 Mother Emma Kesiah (Roe) WatsonVery religious and was devoted to the Reedy River Baptist Church Thought out of all her children, John would follow her destiny she had set out for him

10 Early Adolescence Age 9, Watson was handling tools, soling shoes, and milking cows, and carpentry Defined happiness as “completely absorbed in activity Age 12, the dad left the family Age 13, Emma sold the farm and moved to a bigger town in Greenville, South Carolina Attended a private academy better opportunity for success Struggled with this transition due to poor social skills Poor academics Described as quiet, lazy, and insubordinate Classmates bullied him, and nicknamed him “Swats” for his poor fighting skills

11 Furman University Small Baptist college near Greenville, South Carolina Under great transition during that time period Watson attended Furman at age 16 Lived at home during his 5 years at furman Joined a frat and made a few friends, but still described himself as “unsocial” Professor described “more interested in theories than people” Here, Gordon B. Moore got him interested in psychology. Rebelled. Turned in the paper backwards, failed course. Had to stay another year. Graduated in 1899 with a Bachelor in Arts degree

12 Following Graduation at FurmanFor the 1st time, he left his family and home got a job as a principle of Batesburg Institute Small private academy near columbia Again, his students described him as one who kept to himself While here, Watson’s mother became ill and died From here, Watson used that as a motivation to step on a journey that would take him far beyond the world he grew up in Watson then started applying and sending letters to graduate schools

13 Letter to William Rainey HarperWrote a letter to the president of the University of Chicago Harper was renowned father of the nation's leading graduate research institution at the time Watson was 21 years old at the time, and didn't want to fall back into poverty so he knew he needed to make big moves Hoped harper would grant him a scholarship to study at Chicago Wrote “ I can never amount to anything in the real world unless I have better preparation at “a real university” Harper was then persuaded and Watson was accepted

14 Chicago University Arrived there in 1900 with about $50Paid for his tuition by working as a janitor at the University and a waiter in a boardinghouse Initially intended to earn a degree in Philosophy Dewey a well-known philosopher, made Watson lose interest because he claimed he couldn't understand him Studied Psychology, a profession that had only previously been around for 8 years Found a large interest in animal experimentation more comfortable studying animals than humans

15 Influence of Loeb Loeb was Watson’s animal research professor at University of Chicago Loeb was one of Watson’s biggest influence on the emphasis on control of behavior as an object of scientific research First step towards his idea of behaviorism Later mistrusted Loeb, and was convinced he was not a safe man

16 Education at University of Chicago cont..After Loeb, Watson moved on at the university to focus on the first systematic study of rats behaviors Soon, in 1903, he earned his Ph.D in psychology Youngest to obtain this degree Felt inferior when found out his doctoral exam was inferior to that of a women two years before uncomfortable when women were professional peers

17 Start of his Psychology CareerGot offered a position at Chicago University as an instructor Paid $1000 per year He sent more funding for the psychology department and successfully pushed to make psychology its own program After Watson got funding, this was the first step into wishing to do studies involving human infants Watson distracted by romantic intimacies Women who were young, impressionable, and who were awed by him Vida Sutton Mary Ickes

18 Mary Ickes 19 year old student of Watson in introductory PsychologyBorn in a small town of western Pennsylvania Raised in a devoutly religious household Absent father Was sent away to Chicago following her mother's death Mary developed a crush on Watson Wrote a love poem on her exam instead of the answers and gave it to Watson Became severely poor Watson was her “knight in shining armour”

19 First Marriage On December 26, 1903 Harold issuessecret wedding Harold issues Mary left college Vida Sutton - bad marriage standards Watson publically married Mary in the fall of 1904 Had 2 children- John & Mary

20 Career continued at ChicagoWatson took a quick leave of absence to study at John Hopkins When he returned, his career at Chicago really took off Multiple places offering him but Chicago was doing anything to keep him around Scandal with Vida almost got fired Watson was upset that his marriage was saved

21 Career at John Hopkins University1908, Watson moved jobs to John Hopkins 1909 became head of department Guy randomly walked in his office, told him he was head of department and editor of psychological review and left for mexico 1913 published his first major article “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it” This opened up funding for his experiments and kind of an open table for him Where he really got into the start of human experimentation

22 “Psychology as the behaviorist views it”In 1913, he gave Influential lecture at Columbia University His main point was the the “goal of psychology should be not only to be able to predict behavior but to control it” Said psychology either needs to look into behavior or else the behavior needs to be its own independent science Wanted the lecture to be friendly and inspire people

23 Further Career impactsMilitary work- WW1 Worked as a psychologist on intelligence work made him more respected, enhanced reputation Thought the soldiers were inferior and overbearing Was nearly killed there When he returned he wrote “Psychology as a behaviorist views it” Started experiments on infants

24 “Little Albert” Real name: Douglas MerritteDied at age 6 from hydrocephalus Excessive buildup of fluid in the brain Mother is Arvilla Merritte who was a wet nurse at a campus hospital at the time of the experiment Thought to be unemotional and unresponsive Research now says he may have been severely mentally challenged

25 Little Albert ExperimentJohn Watson and Rosalie Rayner’s famous conditioning study in 1920 “Albert was a normal healthy child” Controversy: Bad experiment design Watson either knowingly or unknowingly produced fear in a possibly already neurologically damaged child Unethical today Never desensitized Albert No control group https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYGXMXGkxtc

26 Question Do you think Watson knew he was experimenting on a mentally ill child? If so or if not, why do you think he chose to experiment on Little Albert and not any other baby?

27 Affair Rosalie Rayner Didn't want to keep her a secretStudent of Watson’s Vibrant, fun-loving, and sparky Didn't want to keep her a secret Broke up his marriage and ended his academic career Eventually got married 2 sons- Billy & Jimmy

28 Revenge Wanted revenge for all the stress Watson had caused throughout marriage Dinner at the Rayners house Felt “sick” Snuck into bedroom Read and took the love letters Brought them to lawyers Got custody of the kids, the house, and left Watson with ⅓ of his income Watson then moved to New York Couldn't escape the press Love letters were in full print in the newspapers Rosalie’s name was never revealed in the papers

29 Advertising “Advertising needs superiority to make people feel inferior” Shoe salesman to Vice President 2x the salary than he was making academically Started promoting toothpaste “sex appeal” much like products are advertised today Put emotion in the products (fear, love, etc) Basically sold behaviorism to a mass audience Retired in 1945

30 Later life Wife died in 1935, at age 36 from pneumoniaSuddenly anti-social Drank heavily In 1957, received a gold medal from the American Psychological Association for his contributions to society Was so nervous he was unable to accept it, so his sons had to for him Died in New York on September 25th, 1958 Was 80 years old Died from Cirrhosis of the liver Was assumed that the alcohol abuse after the death of his son was the major cause “When you’re dead, you’re all dead”

31 Major Works “Psychology as a Behaviorist Views it” 1913“Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology” 1914 “Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist” 1919 “Behaviorism” in 1925 “Psychological Care of Infant and Child” 1928

32 Personality Taste for fine clothes, but also wore overalls and plaidLoved a drinking challenge but didn’t like to be social Loved to race speed boats but refused to drive a car Had few friends, but loved pursuing women Had servants but liked doing everything himself Ambitious but took risks

33 Odd ways of parenting Claimed to never be bothered when his kids cried“Treat your children like young adults. Objective and kindly firm” Practically ignored his son “Growing up with my father was like a business proposition, a devoid of emotional interchange” Few moments of genuine expression WW1 departure- Mary Death of Rosalie - Billy and Jimmy Tested behaviorism on his own children Scheduled eating times Acted to abuse wife in front of billy until child was genuinely disturbed Gave more attention to his daughter than his son preferred women in both family and social life

34 Mary Watson-Daughter “Polly” Multiple suicide attemptsSecretly drank a lot of alcohol Husband committed suicide Had daughter Mariette Hartley

35 Billy Watson-Son Rebelled against his father and was a freudian psychologist Chronic stomach problems his whole life Took the death of his mother very hard Attempted suicide twice. First attempt-stopped by jimmy Second attempt- successful

36 Mariette Hartley - GranddaughterActress Family suicides Career hit rock bottom Lead to alcoholism and thoughts of suicide Quote on her grandfather's child rearing principles: “Grandfather’s theories infected my mother's life, my life, and the lives of millions. How do you break a legacy? How do you keep from passing a debilitating inheritance down, generation to generation, like a genetic flaw”

37 Discussion Questions Do you think Watson’s behaviorism techniques and lack of emotion as a parent, was a cause of his children's mental and physical health issues? Do you think Watson’s own upbringing was a cause for his unique parenting tactics? How would people react to his parenting techniques if they were used today?