The early research of John B. Watson: Before the behavioral revolution

John B. Watson is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in modern psychology. Despite this stature, however, presentations of his contributions and career are usually limited to material on his establishment of classical behaviorism in 1913, and then on subsequent elaborations of his position and on his study of conditioned emotional reactions. Watson's career and research prior to 1913 are rarely mentioned or cited; moreover, when this work is mentioned, the presentations often contain errors of fact. To correct these shortcomings, we present an overview of his pre-1913 research that focuses on (1) his doctoral thesis and first book, Animal Education; (2) his studies with Harvey Carr on the role of the various sense modalities in rats' maze learning; (3) his collaboration with Robert Yerkes on the design and construction of psychophysical equipment for the quantitative study of vision, and on experiments on the visual capabilities of monkeys, rabbits, rats, and birds; and (4) his extensive naturalistic studies in Florida on the behavior of noddy and sooty terns, parts of which anticipated better-known subsequent research on imprinting and instinctual drift. Watson's commitment to the development of an objective, natural science of behavior is clearly evident throughout his early research. In addition, his research shows that his range of interests and scientific sophistication are greater than typical descriptions of his work indicate.