Watson & Child Studies/Child Rearing

I have always been interested in Watson’s experiments over the years, but having read through parts of his life in addition to knowing his famous studies, I feel as if I understand him a good deal better. Reading through, I began to wonder if Watson’s great focus on children is due to his own difficult childhood. His nanny told him horrific stories of the Devil lurking in the dark, and as a result he battled a fear of the dark for the rest of his life. When he was having a particularly nervous time, he would sleep with the light on. I wonder if his experiment with little Albert was a result of his own fears from childhood. Was he searching to find a way to unlearn/systematically eliminate his own fears? If he was, then his study on Peter might have given him hope for himself.

Similarly, I wonder if Watson’s poor childhood contributed to his passion for child studies. As a child, his father was a drunkard who was continually chastised by his zealously religious mother. Eventually, he left both the bickering and his family. Watson began to act out, and he refused to see his father despite his father’s approaches later in life. Was an overbearing mother and an absent father create a desire in Watson to see how children ought to be brought up? Was it the lack of a father figure that left him devoid of proper emotion (according to his sons by Rosalie)? I can only speculate on these matters.

Concerning his child-rearing practices though, I am almost certain I dislike them. Treating a child as an adult and depriving them of emotions seems unhelpful.  I think children would more likely end up having difficulty expressing emotions properly as well as demonstrating a good deal of insecurity in their adult lives. Watson may have coped with his circumstances by avoiding emotion, but that doesn’t mean others should deprive infants and children of hugs and giggles.