The famous behavioral psychologist John B. Watson once said: ?
tigger asked:
The famous behavioral psychologist John B. Watson once said:
The famous behavioral psychologist John B. Watson once said:
“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: doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors.”
Is such a thing hypothetically possible? If so, how could it be done?
May 5th, 2009 at 4:14 am
May 7th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Yeah why couldn’t it be.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Most modern day psychologists would say no.
Not to mention that it would be horribly unethical.
May 11th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Very interesting question. I don’t see how “penchants, tendencies, or abilities” can be taken out of the picture. Studies of identical twins reared apart without knowledge of each other prove that there are many areas of common interests, vocations, names of spouses (!) that manifest themselves at the same time. Even though neither twin knew of each other.
I think genetics has a bigger influence on behavior that we would like to admit. Yes, many things are learned, however, I don’t think you can train a naturally artistic and creative person to be really enthused about being a accountant, for instance.
Somewhere along the line, the child or young adult will find no satisfaction in accounting. That person’s ability to be artistically creative will win out over numbers and dollar signs.
Maybe Watson can train a kid to lean toward becoming a doctor, but if he is not naturally a “people person,” or sees no use in helping others, I think he/she will not even go into med school.
Genetic makeup cannot be excluded from the picture.
May 12th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Well I don’t think that it’s 100% true, which is the way he is putting it (ie: take ANY, regardless of anything etc…).
But it does have an element of truth. For example, practically 100% of chess grandmasters started serious training when they were under 10 years of age (probably average is something like 7 years old).
You can in fact train someone to be a specialist though if you start early. I think actually it’s not just for chess, but for almost any sport as well.
I’m not so sure if this is the case for high level, creative intellectual activity, though.
May 13th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
YES such a simple question….just think outside the box
why do you think Asians are highly academic…? they were raised up to be…and for good reasons *.*
May 16th, 2009 at 10:03 am
yes i believe it’s possible. it’s called socialization and brain washing!