The fear mind screw

John B. Watson (1878–1958) – Popularizing Behaviorism, The Little Albert Study, The “Dozen Healthy Infants”, Life after the University

Read more: John B. Watson (1878–1958) – Popularizing Behaviorism, The Little Albert Study, The “Dozen Healthy Infants”, Life after the University – Psychology, Learning, Behaviorist, and Environment – State University

John B. Watson was an important contributor to classical behaviorism, who paved the way for B. F. Skinner’s radical or operant behaviorism, which has had a major impact on American educational systems.

A professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins University (1908–1920), Watson is often listed as one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century; his work is standard material in most introductory psychology and educational psychology texts. Yet his academic career was brief, lasting for only fourteen years, and his legacy has been hotly debated for nearly a century. Watson helped define the study of behavior, anticipated Skinner’s emphasis on operant conditioning, and emphasized the importance of learning and environmental influences in human development. Watson’s often harsh criticism of Sigmund Freud has been given credit for helping to disseminate principles of Freudian psychoanalysis. Watson is widely known for the Little Albert study and his “dozen healthy infants” quote.

Popularizing Behaviorism

John B. Watson is generally given credit for creating and popularizing the term behaviorism with the publication of his seminal 1913 article “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It.” In the article, Watson argued that psychology had failed in its quest to become a natural science, largely due to a focus on consciousness and other unseen phenomena. Rather than study these unverifiable ideas, Watson urged the careful scientific study of observable behavior. His view of behaviorism was a reaction to introspection, where each researcher served as his or her own research subject, and the study of consciousness by Freud and others, which Watson believed to be highly subjective and unscientific.

In response to introspection, Watson and other early behaviorists believed that controlled laboratory studies were the most effective way to study learning. With this approach, manipulation of the learner’s environment was the key to fostering development. This approach stands in contrast to techniques that placed the emphasis for learning in the mind of the learner. The 1913 article is often given credit for the founding of behaviorism, but it had a minor impact after its publication. His popular 1919 psychology text is probably more responsible for introducing behaviorist principles to a generation of future scholars of learning. In this way, Watson prepared psychologists and educators for the highly influential work of Skinner and other radical behaviorists in subsequent decades.

Read more: John B. Watson (1878–1958) – Popularizing Behaviorism, The Little Albert Study, The “Dozen Healthy Infants”, Life after the University – Psychology, Learning, Behaviorist, and Environment – State University.