60 years ago--Good riddance to this Dr. Watson

On September 25, 1968, Dr. John B. Watson, one of the most prominent figures in the history of psychology, died at the age of 80. Dr. Watson was the father of behaviourism, emphasizing behaviour rather than mental processes, teaching that behaviours are responses to certain stimuli, or a consequence of the individual's history, especially reward and punishment.

Dr. Watson was named after a Baptist minister, and raised by a Christian mother who was allegedly so strict that her son eventually became an atheist.

Like so many who reject biblical Christianity, Dr. Watson took an interest in the betterment of society without God, and took a strong interest in the rearing of children; his best-known book was Psychological Care of Infant and Child (1928). And as is so often the case for those who claim to know what's best for everyone, Dr. Watson's ideas didn't work out very successfully in his own life: his daughter by his first wife attempted suicide, and both sons by his second wife attempted suicide, with one of them succeeding.

Dr. John B. Watson was, and remains, unfortunately, an influential individual, through his own ideas, and through those who followed him; B.F. Skinner, for instance, took Dr. Watson's ideas on reinforcement and punishment to even greater extremes.