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Essay 1 John Watson

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Essay 1 John Watson

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Natalie Schafer

August 28, 2012


Psych 1113 003
Prof. Angela Bell
John Watson: The Pathway to Behaviorism
Behaviorism has impacted the world of psychology and has still been pursued by
psychologists today. John Watson was an eager psychologist in the early 1900s that had a thirst
for exploring this new branch of psychology. He studied the biology, physiology, and behavior
of animals, inspired by the recent work of Ivan Pavlov (Unknown). Watson began his early
career as a psychologist by beginning college at the young age of 16. He gained his masters
degree then went on to pursue his doctorate and got his PhD as a psychologist. His career as a
professor in the field of psychology gave him the materials to continue to work on his new found
love of Behaviorism. But little did he know that his new interest would pave the way for future
psychologists and scientists to begin an extraordinary theory in science.
His study of behaviorism consisted of children, as well, concluding that humans were
simply more complicated than animals but operated on the same principles (Unknown).
Watson believed that every person was born with a blank slate as their mind. The blank slate
theory says that organisms are blank slates on which experience writes its lessons, and hence
any one lesson should be as easily written as another. (Woods, Catherine, pg. 25). The blank
slate theory was the basic foundation for what Watson based his experiments on. Because he did
not believe in Freuds theory of organisms just born with the some knowledge that have based on
their genetics. The most well-known project of his was called, Little Albert. This project
involved a baby named Albert and he trained him to be scared of a white rat. Watson believed
that the environment affecting organism was much stronger toward you behavior than genetics
are. To do this Watson associated a white rat that walked in front of the baby with a loud
banging noise. After a few trials the baby would cry when seeing the rat even if the noise was
not present. This is because he had gotten so used to the rat being associated with the noise that
every time Albert saw the white rat he just thought of the noise and did not like the presence of
the rat. They continued on with the experiment by adding in other furry animals and the result
was the same for little Albert. The ethics of the experiment are often criticized today,
especially because the child's fear was never deconditioned. (Cherry, Kendra). In 2009, some
scientists that were still criticizing the works of Watson and the Little Albert project began to
wonder what ever happened to the original Albert. After some research they discovered the
small boy that participated in the experiment died at the young age of six and he never gained
back the confidence to be around small furry creatures. Many people have mixed feelings over
this experiment but as a result of his project of Little Albert gained the attention of common
citizens and psychologists around the world. Watsons theory of behaviorism inspired some
psychologists who continued to study further in depth into behaviorism. One psychologist that
continued Watsons studies was a man named Skinner. He used the same behaviorism concept
as Watson but did his experimentation a little differently. Skinner used mice as his test subject
and food as the prize for the mice if they successfully made it through a maze in a certain amount
of time. He tested Watsons theory of being able to change an organisms nature through
changing it by the environment. It proved successful because the mice after a series of trials
began to more quickly get through the maze so they could get their food. This project that was
proven successful got Watsons name more out into the world and opened the floodgates for
psychologists to become even more interested in testing the behaviorism concept.
Watsons studies have proved to be very significant in scientific studies to this day.
Psychologists and scientists to this day continue to further their knowledge of the environment
and how it affects organisms ways of thinking. The worlds knowledge of the environment and
how we react to it was greatly influenced by Watsons foundation of behaviorism. Watson set
the stage for behaviorism, which soon rose to dominate psychology. While behaviorism began to
lose its hold after 1950, many of the concepts and principles are still widely used today.
Conditioning and behavior modification are still widely used in therapy and behavioral training
to help clients change problematic behaviors and develop new skills. (Cherry, Kendra).

Works Cited

Cherry, Kendra. (2012). John B. Watson Biography. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/watson.htm
Unknown. (1998). People and Discoveries: John Watson. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhwats.html
Woods, Catherine. (2011). Psychology eBook pg. 25. Retrieved from
http://www.coursesmart.com/9781429237192/chap01#

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