Re: Rosalie Rayner

[Beth Benoit]

Title: Re:  Rosalie Rayner

And can I add a little more gossip that I picked up from one of those not-too-sure-how-credible sources on the web?  It has a Univ. of Connecticut address, but caveat emptor...  The Watsons' book on child rearing, "The Psychological Care of the Infant and Child," was sadly quite popular, and he should probably be given the blame (certainly not credit) for the philosophy of childrearing that was popular until Dr. Spock changed the current ideas of childrearing, namely don't be overly affectionate, treat them like little adults, etc.  (And yes, Rosalie not only worked on it, but also published her own little work, called "I Am the Mother of the Behaviourist's Sons.")

The following comment, purported to have been written by him in 1936, seems much more alarming than that old salt of "Give me a dozen infants..."  He is quoted as having said: "I sometimes think I regret that I could not have a group of infant farms where I could have brought up thirty pure-blooded Negroes on one, thirty 'pure'-blooded Anglo-Saxons on another, and thirty Chinese on a third -- all under similar conditions. Some day it will be done, but by a younger man."

Other sad tales - if true - that William, the older of their sons committed suicide, and their daughter attempted suicide several times.  Here's a quote from the Johns Hopkins Gazette:
Sadly, there is evidence from Watson's own family that his child-rearing ideas caused more harm than good. The actress Mariette Hartley, the child of Watson's daughter, has described a painful childhood, saying, "There wasn't exactly a plethora of physical affection in our family." Both her parents became alcoholics, and her father shot himself in the head with his family nearby. Her mother, Watson's daughter, later attempted suicide several times.
(http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2001/jan2201/22watson.html)

For those of you who are interested (and looking for a way to distract yourself from necessary paperwork as I am), here's the site:

http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~lundquis/watson.html

(Feeling like I just read through a copy of People magazine...read my trash for the day),
Beth Benoit
University System of New Hampshire ---
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