John B. Watson is often referred to as the "father of behaviorism." His view that psychology was the science of observable behaviors had a strong influence, and the behavioral perspective rose to dominate the field during the first half of the twentieth century.
Watson was one of the strongest advocates for behaviorism, suggesting that psychology should be objective and focus on the study of human behaviors. At one point, he famously stated,"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." Learn more about his life, career, and theories in this brief biography of John Watson.
Watson was one of the strongest advocates for behaviorism, suggesting that psychology should be objective and focus on the study of human behaviors. At one point, he famously stated,"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." Learn more about his life, career, and theories in this brief biography of John Watson.
Comments
Thank, this is great information on Watson. It summons up the main points and clearly states what Watson thought about behaviorism.
You left out the last sentance of his quote and I?m pretty sure it?s very important. It shows that he?s not fully radical about things.
Thanks for your comment Taylor. For those interested, the rest of the quote continues, ??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.?
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The bottom line is, that no single person is able to predict the outcome of another humans destiny or behavior. Even in a controlled environment the nature of a person will prevail. Why? because our spirit has a voice, and if that which we are conditioned to is not within our nature we will not be able to continue to do it. It?s like a reverse cognative dissonance. Instead of making up reasons to justify these behaviors we will subconsciouly, or consciously rebel against that in which we were so called nurtured to do.
I can see where you are coming from when you say that nature dominates in how successful we will be, but this is not entirely true. Our heredity is very important in that it provides the structure of how we will behave, but without nature and environmental stimulation, a person could not develop either. It is a mix between the two that influence how we learn and how successful we become.
he was quiet an intelligent man we r products of what n where we?ve been taught.
an icon in the world of psychology