The story of John B. Watson's alleged sexy time with his graduate student Rosalie Rayner in the service of science has alternatively agitated and titillated the psychological community and its undergraduate students for many years.
At last we have as close to a definitive answer as we are ever likely to get, from Ludy Benjamin et al (2007) in a masterful review of the evidence. So, tittle-tattle or truth? The abstract to the just-published article in American Psychologist coyly doesn't tell, presumably to induce you to read the article in full to find out. But those of you who don't have easy access to the article would hate me if I kept quiet about it, wouldn't you? The answer is....tittle-tattle. Or, in the words of the authors, "Our assessment of the evidence leads us to agree with the textbook authors who appear to have decided that the story of Watson's sexual research was just that--a story, so much gossip." It's not that there aren't tantalizing hints in Watson's writings that he was interested in such research; it's just that there's no reliable evidence that he actually carried any out. As one who at one time entertained the notion, perhaps wistfully, that the story could be true, the lesson is clear: be sceptical of such stuff unless and until it receives adequate documentation. The Internet has only made the problem of spurious stories and attributions worse (much worse!). Witness, for example, the case of Freud's alleged, widely-quoted statement that the mind is like an iceberg which we've discussed here. Actually, textbooks came out of this one surprisingly well, because as Ludy et al point out, not a single current textbook mentions the story, although it appears in quite a few older ones. But they note that it seems to be still making an appearance in the undergraduate classroom and, of course, is well-represented on the Internet. Is this article going to put a stop to such stuff? I wouldn't bet on it. Stephen Benjamin, L. , Whitaker, J., Ramsey, R., & Zeve, D. (2007). John B. Watson's alleged sex research: an appraisal of the evidence. American Psychologist, 62, 131-139. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Department of Psychology Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 0C8 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
