Question

Do some general research about prominent figures in psychology. Select a psychologist and present a brief bio (2-3 paragraphs), IN YOUR OWN WORDS, about this person. Some things to consider including: who they are, their contribution to the study of psychology, the impact of their work on society, the impact of their work on understanding human behavior, etc. Include an APA Style reference.

Answer 1

I like to select Sir John Broadus Watson who is an American psychologist born in january 09, 1878 mainly known for establishing psychological school of behaviorism. He earned his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1902, studying under Hopkins alumnus John Dewey. In 1908 he came to Hopkins as professor of experimental psychology. He advocated a change in psychology through his lecture on the topic "psychology as the behaviorist views it" given at the Columbia University in 1913. In 1919 he successfully launched the field of Behavioral Psychology before that in around 1917 he has went through several experiment which included infants also, illustrating these experiments in one of these photographs, captioned “testing the grasping reflex,” a baby is dangling by one hand from a rod held up by Watson, an assistant holds her hands open under the child, in case he loses his grip. This shows his commitment to his field of research. In the field of child psychology what he emphasises cannot be adhered so easily as he chooses to be against the tide. He felt that it is a grave mistake to show affection to a child, since it would only enhance the child’s emotional attachment to the parent and make it more difficult for the child to grow into an independent adult. So it was his belief that children, once able to move around on their own, should be treated like miniature adults. Many of his contemporaries rejected his theories & ideas which later on pave the way to become blacklisted. Afterwards he obtained a job with the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and became a pioneer in applying psychology to advertising.​ He gave his expertise to this field of advertising with his applied behaviorism to influence consumers to buy products based on what they saw and felt in the advertisement​, in this way he become successful & very famous. He died in 1958, at the age of 80. He successfully popularized the use of scientific theory with behaviorism for which he will always be remembered.