That line about "race of his ancestors" is especially progressive for 1925. One other thing to stress about the quote is the phrase "my own specified world to bring them up in". This obviously implies full control over every contingency in a person's life and thus this statement should be seen as hyperbole (exaggeration to make a point, not to be taken literally) and not a proposal for an actual research project. Although Watson may or may not have had the desire to do such a thing, he clearly lacked the omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence to do it. And I give him credit for realizing that.
Rick Dr. Richard L. Froman Psychology Department John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone and voice mail: (479)524-7295 http://www.jbu.edu/sbs/rfroman.html -----Original Message----- From: Jim Dougan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 2:23 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Progressive Watson At 01:58 PM 4/8/02 -0500, Lisa Hager wrote: >The exact quote is "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." Lisa found the quote just ahead of me...... but I just had to add the following: Watson is criticized (validly) for many things. Whenever I read this quote, though, I am incredibly impressed with just how progressive a statement it is for 1926. -- Jim --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
