John B Watson Research Paper

Abstract

Who is John B. Watson and why is he important to child psychopathology? Researchers and educators have argued that John B. Watson is one of the most important figures in the history of psychology. Throughout his life, Watson focused the majority of his career on contributions towards behaviorism. He conducted numerous research experiments including the well-known Little Albert study in order to investigate emotional learning in children. He introduced his theories of behaviorism to the public through his famous article, “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It”. Watson integrated concepts from previous psychology research findings, such as Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Although Watson did not accept many other concepts towards

Despite the significance of Watson’s contributions, two major issues remained. The first main issue was the clear spontaneity of behavior (Moore, 2011). Certain responses seemed to occur in the absence of a characteristic stimulus evoking them. The researchers were unable to control all part of the experiment, including certain responses that were given by the subjects. A second important issue that was evident was the unpredictability of behavior. Even in situations when a characteristic stimulus came before the responses, the topography and occurrence of the responses often fluctuated drastically. These problems resulted in the fact that by the mid 1900’s many researchers and theorists began seeking out ways to alter classical stimuli-response behaviorism (Moore, 2011). One main approach researchers used to modify classical stimuli-response behaviorism was to add interfering “organismic” variables to connect the stimulus with responses (S-R relationship). The “organismic” variables mediated the link between the stimulus with responses, thus accommodating the problems regarding spontaneity and unpredictability. In this case, with the help of the organismic variables, the response is directly associated to the mediator, instead of the environment because the organism is in contact with the mediator and not the

Watson was known as one of the top controversial important figures in American psychology. As a founder of behaviorism, Watson published numerous articles and writings, which generated a great amount of attention. He believed that behavior should be explored as a product of external actions that can be observed, rather than internal processes of the mind. Although many beliefs and theories based on behaviorism began to decline, many of the theories and principles are still used to this day. Behavior modification and conditioning are still considered to be a widely used tactic in both therapy and behavioral training in order to help patients change challenging behaviors and obtain a new set of skills. John B. Watson’s experimental research illuminated the substantial role early experiences play in determining personality. Despite the negative reactions towards behaviorism, and the many criticisms Watson received, he was able to keep his focus on what was most important in his life, which was elaborating and developing more theories to prove truth towards his theory. During his time, Watson was able to outline the main principles of behaviorism and became known as the “father” of behaviorism. To this day, he is still seen as an extremely influential individual in psychology. His developments on behaviorism paved the way for both present-day and future psychologists around the