JOHN WATSON’S THEORY
OF BEHAVIORISM
Toria Baker, Sabrina Fischer, and Emily Jackson
Watson’s Early Days
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Born in South Carolina; grew up on a farm
Was a rebel when younger but had an ambition
that made him want to go to college
Went to Furman University at age 16 and then went
on the the University of Chicago
Later became a professor of experimental and
comparative psychology at Johns Hopkins University
His Early Work
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1913- published an article about his new ideas that
animals responded to events according to their
"wiring," or nerve pathways that were conditioned
by experience
This was very different and new
 Watson
disagreed with Freud
 Didn’t think that the heredity of a person shaped their
behavior
His Findings
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Watson’s experiments were interrupted by WWI
where he served as a psychologist
Realized that he hated the military
Went back to Johns Hopkins where he continued his
academic career until some unfortunate events
happened and he was asked to leave the university
And now onto the experiment!
Watson’s Inspirations
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Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov
 Studied
animal learning
 Noticed
dogs salivate before being
presented with food
 Taught the dogs to salivate when
he rang a bell by presenting food
 Had discovered classical
conditioning
Watson’s Ideas
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Watson wanted to apply
classical conditioning to children
behavior
Experiment:
 Taught
11 month old Albert
to fear a rat by making
loud noises whenever he
touched the rat
 Albert developed a fear of
the white rat
John Watson
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http://www.noodle.org/learn/details/1
50653/watson-behaviorism-raynerbaby-albert-david-peterzell-classes
Responses
 Albert
developed a fear of
white fur and even Watson’s
white hair.
 Because Albert’s fear was so
apparent, people thought it
was morally corrupt and
considered cruel and changed
the ethics of studies such as
Watson’s.

Albert developed a fear of the
animals used in the experiment such
as rats and avoided them all his
life.
Watson’s Beliefs
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Watson defined
behaviorism as what
people do.
“Life’s most complicated
acts are but
combinations of these
simple stimulus-response
patterns of behavior”
~John Watson
Experiment
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http://educationportal.com/academy/lesson/watson-andlittle-albert.html
Origin of the Theory
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Happened after World War I
During the roaring 20’s
Flapper era
Large social hierarchy
During the time where children should be seen but not
heard
Continuing Development
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Albert’s responses to the experiment/rat gradually
increased with his age placing the experiment as a
continuous experiment
Contributions to Society
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Found a new way for parents
to raise their children
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Also gave moral boundaries
to experiments
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By Molding their behavior
using Watson’s theory
Testing on children, cruelty,
ethics, etc.
Example: children do
something bad, they get
spanked
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Taught the children to not do
anything bad or they would be
punished
Conclusions
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“Watson concluded that environment is the supreme
force in development and that adults can mold
children’s behavior by carefully controlling stimulusresponse associations” (Burke,17).
Bibliography
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Berk, Laura E. Infants, Children, and Adolescents.
6th
ed.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996. Print.
"John B. Watson." Psychology History. N.p., n.d.
Web. 15
Sept. 2013.
"John Watson." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhwats.html>.
Simpson, Joanne C. "Johns Hopkins Magazine -April 2000."
Johns Hopkins Magazine. N.p., Apr. 2000. Web. 15 Sept. 2013.
"Watson and Little Albert." Education Portal. N.p., n.d.
Web.
15 Sept. 2013.
"Watson Behaviorism Rayner Baby Albert." Beta
Noodle. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2013.
Bibliography cont.
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Images
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http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/files/2012/01/albert1-11.jpeg
http://mybrainnotes.com/john-watson-hospitalism.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Ivan_Pavlov_N
LM3.jpg
http://educationportal.com/cimages/multimages/16/Little_Albert_John_Watson.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/105/4559862181_1e2b8aa7ec.jpg
http://listverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/albert.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/John_Broadus
_Watson.JPG
http://pavlov.psicol.unam.mx:8080/Cim2000/Imagenes/littlealbert.jpg
http://eweb.furman.edu/~einstein/watson/jbwover.jpg