John Watson

John Broadus Watson (January 9, 1878 – September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who popularized the scientific theory of behaviorism, establishing it as a psychological school. Watson advanced this change in the psychological discipline through his 1913 address at Columbia University, titled Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It. Through his behaviorist approach, Watson conducted research on animal behavior, child rearing, and advertising, as well as conducting the controversial "Little Albert" experiment and the Kerplunk experiment. He was also the editor of Psychological Review from 1910 to 1915. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Watson as the 17th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Early life

Watson was born on January 9, 1878 in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. His father, Pickens Butler Watson, was an alcoholic and left the family to live with two Indian women when John was 13 years old. His mother, Emma Kesiah Watson (née Roe), was a very religious woman who adhered to prohibitions against drinking, smoking, and dancing, naming her son John after a prominent Baptist minister in hopes that it would help him receive the call to preach the Gospel. In bringing him up, she subjected Watson to harsh religious training that later led him to develop a lifelong antipathy toward all forms of religion and to become an atheist.

In an attempt to escape poverty, Watson's mother sold their farm and brought Watson to Greenville, South Carolina, to provide him a better opportunity for success. Moving from an isolated, rural location to the town of Greenville, which then had a population of 8,000, proved to be important for Watson, giving him the opportunity to experience a variety of different types of people, which he used to cultivate his theories on psychology. Watson also held some racist beliefs, believed to be more extreme than most at the time, and was arrested for doing hate crimes against African American people in the Greenville area only being saved by his mother's influence with the local Baptist church.