John Watson

Later, Watson became interested in the work of Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), and eventually included a highly simplified version of Pavlov's principles in his popular works.

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.

He was born on January 9, 1878.

His father, Pickens Butler Watson, was an alcoholic and left the family to live with two Indian women when John was 13 years old—a transgression which he never forgave.

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 large urbanity of Greenville proved to be important for Watson, providing him the opportunity to experience a variety of different types of people, which he used to cultivate his theories on psychology.

However, the initial transition would be a struggle for Watson, due to his limited social skills.

Watson married Mary Ickes, sister of politician Harold L. Ickes, while he was in graduate school.

They had two children, also named John and Mary Ickes Watson, the latter of whom attempted suicide later in life.

Young Mary and her husband, Paul Hartley, had a daughter, Mariette Hartley, an actor who suffered from psychological issues that she attributed to her being raised according to her grandfather's theories.

Watson's wife later sought divorce due to his ongoing affair with a student, Rosalie Rayner (1898–1935).

In searching Rayner's bedroom, Mary discovered love letters from Watson.

The affair became front-page news in Baltimore.

Watson earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1903.

He was also the editor of Psychological Review from 1910 to 1915.

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.

The publicity resulted in Johns Hopkins University asking Watson to resign his faculty position in October 1920.

In 1921, following the finalization of the divorce, Watson and Rayner married in New Jersey, parenting two sons, William Rayner Watson (1921) and James Broadus Watson (1924), who were raised with the behaviorist principles that John espoused throughout his career.

The couple remained together until Rayner's death at age 36 in 1935.

Like their half-sister, both sons later attempted suicide, with William killing himself in 1954.

Watson burned his letters and personal papers, thus depriving historians of a resource for understanding the early history of behaviorism and of Watson himself.

Historian John Burnham interviewed Watson late in life, presenting him as a man of strong opinions and some bitterness towards his detractors.

In 1957, shortly before his death, Watson received a Gold Medal from the American Psychological Association for his contributions to psychology.

Watson lived on his farm until his death in 1958 at age 80.

He was buried at Willowbrook Cemetery, Westport, Connecticut.

Despite his poor academic performance and having been arrested twice during high school—first for fighting, then for discharging firearms within city limits—Watson was able to use his mother's connections to gain admission to Greenville's Furman University at the age of 16.

There, he would complete a few psychology courses, though never excelling.

He would also consider himself to be a poor student, holding a few jobs on campus to pay for his college expenses.

Others thought him as quiet, lazy, and insubordinate, and, as such, he continued to see himself as "unsocial," making few friends.

Nevertheless, being a precocious student, Watson would leave Furman with a master's degree at the age of 21.

After graduating, Watson spent a year at Batesburg Institute, the name he gave to a one-room school in Greenville, at which he was principal, janitor, and handyman.

Watson entered the University of Chicago after petitioning the University President.

The successful petition would be central to his ascent into the psychology world, as his college experience introduced him to professors and colleagues who would be integral to his success in developing psychology into a credible field of study.

Watson began studying philosophy under John Dewey on the recommendation of Furman professor, Gordon Moore.

The combined influence of Dewey, James Rowland Angell, Henry Herbert Donaldson, and Jacques Loeb, led Watson to develop a highly descriptive, objective approach to the analysis of behavior, an approach he would later call behaviorism.

Wanting to make psychology more scientifically acceptable, Watson thought of the approach as a declaration of faith, based on the idea that a methodology could transform psychology into a scientific discipline.

A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Watson as the 17th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.