Person of the Issue: John B. Watson (1878-1958)

John B. Watson grew up in South Carolina. While he later described himself as a poor student, he entered Furman University at the age of 16. After graduating five years later with a master’s degree, he began studying psychology at the University of Chicago. Watson earned his Ph.D. in psychology in 1903.

According to John Watson, psychology should be the science of observable behavior. “Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness,” he explained (1913).