In a famous speech given in 1926, John B. Watson made the following claim:
Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—a doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, even into beggarman and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.
Place this statement in historical perspective. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your reasoning.
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER: John B. Watson (1878–1958) was a behaviorist. Psychologists following the behaviorist perspective concentrated on observable, measurable behaviors and dominated psychology for the first half of the 20th century. Watson echoed the “blank slate” approach of the British empiricist philosophers in his emphasis on the role of experience in forming behavior. By the 1950s, the behaviorists’ disinterest in mental states and activity was challenged by scientists from diverse fields, including linguistics and computer science, leading to a cognitive revolution. In addition, the work of Freud and of humanists provided new perspectives.
Students should discuss whether they agree or disagree with Watson’s statement in reference to the nature versus nurture debate. As the text notes, contemporary psychology views the mind as being a function of interactions between inborn characteristics and experiences, not a product of just nature or just nurture.
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