JOHN B. WATSON1878- 1958

By: Hamda Jama

INTRODUCTION• John B. Watson was a famous American psychologist, born into a poor family in Greenville, South Carolina in 1878

•He entered Furman University at the age of 16 and graduated with a masters degree.

•He began studying psychology at the University of Chicago. Watson earned his Ph.D. in psychology in 1903

INTRODUCTION

Watson began teaching psychology at John Hopkins University in 1908

He publicized the study of behaviourism as a branch of psychology which at that time there was a disagreement about the subject matter

And is best known for the Little Albert Experiment

THEORIES Watson publicized the term “ Behaviourism” in

1918

Behaviourism is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning

According to behaviorism, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner

He believed that humans were solely shaped by their environment . Nurture has more of an effect than nature

TENETS OF BEHAVIORISMThe basic tenets of behaviorism incorporated in Watson’s manifesto were:•Psychology is a purely experimental branch of natural science•The theoretical goal of psychology is the prediction and control of behavior•The science of psychology must discard all references to consciousness• Both animals and humans must be studied using only objective and uniform procedures

LITTLE ALBERT EXPERIMENT

In 1920, Watson was extremely famous for his highly controversial experiment called “ The Little Albert Experiment”. He took an eleventh month year old infant named Albert and emotionally testing the child by exposing him to a white rat and a loud noise. Whenever he presented Albert with a white rat or a white rabbit he made a loud sound behind him which caused Albert to cry and show fear to this noise every time

CONCLUSIONS TO EXPERIMENT

• Introduction of a loud sound (unconditioned

stimulus) resulted in fear (unconditioned

response), a natural response

•Introduction of a rat ( neutral stimulus) paired

with the loud sound (unconditioned stimulus)

resulted in fear ( unconditioned stimulus)

•Successive introductions of a rat (conditioned

stimulus) resulted in fear ( conditioned response)

WHY IS WATSON IMPORTANT?

Watson’s ground breaking

experiment proved that classic

conditioning can be used to

condition an emotional response.

The Little Albert Experiment is one

of psychology’s most famous

experiment’s and is mentioned in

nearly every introduction to

psychology course.

CONCLUSIONJohn Watson work had a tremendous impact on American psychology and set the stage of Behaviorism which dominated the field of Psychology until the 1960’s. Nevertheless, many concepts and principles of Behaviorism is used today such as conditioning, behavior modification and behavioral training. Watson’s work influenced B.F Skinner in his studies of operant conditioning which had a major impact on the development of behavior therapy. Watson’s contributions have changed the field of psychology forever.

REFERENCE LIST

•http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/f/behaviorism.htm•http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/behaviorism/Watson.html•http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/watson.htm