John Broadus Watson Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

John Broadus Watson - Research Paper Example Watson’s childhood John Broadus Watson was born on 9th of January 1878 in the village of Travelers Rest, South Carolina and his parents were Emma Kesiah Roe Watson and Pickens Butler Watson. His birth was in a poor farmer’s family and there are contradictions regarding his sibling particulars among experts. Watson’s mother was immensely religious and an active member of the Reedy River Baptist Church which made him to involve in religious activities during his childhood. His mother expected him to become a minister and so she kept his name after John Albert Broadus, a minister of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and she tried to keep her family always close to the church and she never let her family members to drink, smoke and dance. Watson’s father, on the other hand, was least religious. He used to drink and chase women and eventually separated from his family in 1891. Watson’s childhood was immersed in poverty and isolation. ... He engaged himself in a part time job at a chemical laboratory to pay his college fees and continued to live with his family during his college days. Watson was influenced by Gordon B. Moore who taught him philosophy and psychological works of Wundt and James at his college. Watson was not happy with his brother Edward and there had been constant clashes between these two brothers and Edward considered Watson as a shame to his family. Watson’s graduation took one additional year to complete and he made it in 1899 as he was flunked by his favorite teacher in 1898. But there is an interesting counterpart to the story and it restarts at the point when Watson received a letter form Gordon B. Moore requesting to accept him as a research student under the guidance of Watson. But unfortunately Moore died soon after loosing his eyesight before starting his research under the supervision of his former student. Even though it is true that Watson had to spend one additional year to compl ete his graduation at Furman; the extra year benefited him to achieve a post graduation at the age of 21. The Chicago era Watson worked in a tiny school at Greenville as a teacher for a monthly salary of $25 after completing his graduation form Furman and it was the death of his mother which made him think about going for higher studies in the University of Chicago or in Princeton. He applied in both the universities and decided to choose Chicago by recognizing the fact that it is necessary to have thorough knowledge of Greek and Latin to go on with his studies at Princeton. His favorite faculty at Furman who flunked him was also from the University of Chicago and this was yet another personnel reason behind his decision. He took