Bell ringer
Do you think that there is a
difference between the way humans
and animals think?
Why or why not?
Write a comment or question, or
draw a picture, to illustrate your
response.
Image from Google Images
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
“Founder of Behaviorism”
By Mary Beth Bracy & Courtney (Foley) Sayward
About John B. Watson
• From poor family in South
Carolina
• Troubled youth, but
managed to go to college
(graduated 1889).
• Majored in psychology and
minored in philosophy,
under John Dewey (1901).
• (1903) Studied under
German biologist Jacques
Loeb, and became
fascinated with animal
studies.
• (1907) Became associate
professor at Johns Hopkins
University.
• Named editor of renowned
journal Psychological Review.
• Promulgated views on animalhuman psychology, which he
also applied to mental illness
research.
• (1914) Became president of
the American Psychological
Association.
• (1916-) Worked in advertising.
Publications
• (1913) Published article “Psychology as the Behaviorist
Views it.”
• (1914) Published Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative
Psychology.
• (1919) Wrote his most popular book: Psychology from the
Standpoint of a Behaviorist.
• (1920) Published the “Little Albert” experiment.
• (1924) Published Behaviorism.
• (1928) Published The Psychological Care of Infant and Child.
Behaviorism
• “Behaviorism assumes that behavior is observable
and can be correlated with other observable events.
Thus, there are events that precede and follow
behavior (Cooper, 2009).”
• Psychology should be grounded in science when
examining the connection between the
environment and behavior.
• Ideas controlling human and other animal
behavior are basically the same.
More on Behaviorism
• Influenced by Pavlov’s experiments (e.g., causing
dogs to salivate at the sound of a noise).
• Watson experimented on animals and children.
His most famous study was titled “Little Albert.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2Ns3WViaXw&feature=fvw
Behaviorist Conclusions
• Humans are conditioned. For instance, in
the “Little Albert” experiment the toddler
was conditioned to fear the rat by adding the
noise. Later, this was also extended to other
furry objects (e.g., Santa beard and Watson’s
hair).
• Watson asserted that thinking is not
conscious behavior. It is merely talking to
yourself.
Positive Instructional Implications
• If behavior is conditioned, there is
amazing potential for teachers to
positively influence their students
by good example, quality lessons
and learning.
• Watson believed that practice
strengthens learning.
• His work was considered the
beginning of the development of
learning science.
Criticism
• Behaviorism has been criticized for Social-Darwinian
implications (e.g., conditioning the masses and survival
of the fittest).
• "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, and, yes, even beggarman
and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants,
tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.
I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have
the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it
for many thousands of years." –John B. Watson,
Behaviorism, p. 104.
References
• Cohen, D. (1979). J. B. Watson: The Founder of Behaviourism.
London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.
• Cooper, S. (2009). John B. Watson (1878 to 1958) Behaviorism.
Retrieved from http://www.lifecirclesinc.com/Learningtheories/behaviorism/Watson.html
• Green, C. D. (2009). Classics in the history of Psychology: Introduction to
“Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” John B. Watson (1913).
Retrieved September 9, 2010, from
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/intro.htm
• Watson, J. B. (1957). Behaviorism (New ed.). Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.
NATURE
VS.
NURTURE