The character I chose for a reflective journal is John B. Watson. He is a representative of behaviorism and one of the most important persons in American psychology. It is essential to note that his views prevailed in American psychology for 50 years, and nowadays his ideas in altered form are still important. However, I am impressed by his points of view, behavioral, and radical experiments with a child.
John B. Watson launched the behaviorist movement, rejected the philosophy of the past, the method of introspection, and mentioned that mental events were beyond the pale of scientific psychology. Unfortunately, the world of psychology did not agree with his ideas therefore, he had to join the world of business and worked in the sphere of advertising (Ludy et.al. 133). This means that he was a controversial person for his time period, his points of view were radical, and additionally, Watson had a scandalous divorce because his love letters to another woman were published (Ludy et.al. 133). Nowadays it is a strange idea to force a person to lose academic career because of divorce, violation of ethic norms, and controversial researches. However, lately, McConnell found out that Watson was a pioneer in sexual research, which explains the demise of his academic career (Ludy et.al. 133). I have learned that he was an outstanding person with interesting career. Moreover, I wonder why he did not agree with public and continued his studies if he knew that he would have troubles.
Watson’s article with the behaviorist views was first published in 1913, and it inspired a revolution in psychology (Morris 157). It meant the death of the psychology of consciousness and the births of the psychology of behavior. Watson’s views were experimental and aimed to predict and control behavior (Morris 158). Watson argued that the internal mental processes of a person are not important, it is only about behavior, which, in turn, depends on the external environment and external stimuli. In fact, behaviorists believed that the actions of Homo sapiens are not much more complicated than actions of animals caused by conditioned reflexes. Here, I would like to know, if Watson really followed his ideas till the end of academic career. Despite the recognition of his theoretical work, the psychologist aimed to prove his points of view in practice. At the end of 1919, the researcher began the experiment with an 11-month-old baby. At the first stage of the experiment, he showed the boy a white rat and similar subjects - a beard, cotton yarn, fur. The boy was not afraid of them. Then, when the baby was playing with a rat, Watson hammered with force on a steel belt over the child's head. The kid did not see what Watson made and frightened sounds. After a few repetitions, he was afraid of rats. In addition, he was afraid of other objects similar to a rat - white rabbit, fur coat, the dog, the beard of Santa Claus. According to the researcher, the reaction was fixed for at least a month, but it can be easily removed. But the child was taken away. However, Watson’s 1913 article did not receive view in psychological science and did not include application among its defining features (Morris 173). I do not agree with such cruel experiments, and would like to get a psychological characteristic of Watson and his assistant, which helped him.
It is essential to note that Watson was professionally and personally, interested in sex. He looked good even when he was 65 years old and was admired by women. Thus, he wrote about connected pleasantness with the activity of receptors stimulated by shrinkage of the sex organs, he widely talked about the dangers of venereal disease, promoted sexual behavioral, and other topics of human sexuality. Watson emphasized that parents completely ignore the topic of sexual education, sexual motivation, and behavior for their children. He wrote that parents should inform children what they may expect in the realm of sex (Ludy et.al. 136). I agree with his ideas and believe that sexual behavior is important for everybody.
Works Cited
Ludy, Benjamin et.al. "John B. Watson’s Alleged Sex Research." American Psychologist,
vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 131-139,
http://pubman.mpdl.mpg.de/pubman/item/escidoc:2281443/component/escidoc:2281442/benjamin_whitaker_2007-Alleged_Sex.pdf. Accessed 29 Jan. 2017.
Morris, E. "The legacy of John B. Watson’s behaviorist manifesto for applied behavior
analysis." Mexican Journal of behavior analysis, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 155-179,
http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/593/59335808009.pdf. Accessed 29 Jan. 2017.
