John Watson Essay -- Psychology, Behaviorism

Watson’s life history John Broadus Watson was a famous American psychologist who lived between the year 1878 and 1958. He was born in a place called Greenville in South Carolina. John’s father was called Pickens and Emma was his mother and he was their fourth born child. The family was not well of financially they just lived in poverty. In spite of the poverty that engulfed the family, John’s father turned to be a habitual drunkard who cared less for his family. However, Emma John’s mother was a devoted religious woman who struggled to take care of the children with less support from her husband (Watson, 1999). In 1891, Pickens John’s father left the family and disappeared since he was somebody who engaged in extra marital affairs with other women a situation which even strained their marriage with his wife Emma and the relationship with his children. When Pickens had disappeared from home, John became a naughty boy and he became so confused in life due to lack of the full p arental care of both parents. He became defiant at school even he did not want to listen to the advice from his teachers. He bullied his fellow students and involved in other antisocial behaviors which were quite unacceptable at the school environment, further more he became violent and even rebelled his mother. John’s life started to turn around by the help of his teacher called Gordon Moore at the time he was a student at Furman University. He later on developed a positive attitude towards academic work since he realized that at least he can now contribute to the community regardless of the poverty state of his family. His academic performance was quite brilliant and he was able to succeed and secure a chance in the University of Chicago to pursue his m... ...eover, critics argue that animals and people can easily adapt behaviors when new information is introduced even if the previous pattern of behavior has been already established by reinforcement. In conclusion, the theory of behaviorism is based on observable behaviors for easier quantification and data collection. Effective techniques such behavior intervention and discrete trial training originates from this school of thought. The approaches are very essential in altering the maladaptive behaviors in adults and even children (Cherry, 2011). Therefore, Professor John Watson is greatly saluted for his tremendous contribution to modern psychology since his work was a big transition from the work of earlier scholars to the modern scholars. His life history is quite inspiring and serves as a role model to the young scholars who are interested in studying psychology.