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If you had been invited to a party at the home of John B. Watson in 1913, which of the following would you likely have overheard him saying?

a) "The unconscious mind is the key to understanding behavior."
b) "Give me a dozen healthy infants, and my own specified world to bring them up in, and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select."
c) "Behavior is primarily driven by unconscious conflicts."
d) "The mind is a blank slate at birth, and experiences shape behavior."

User AlexJReid
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Final answer:

At a party hosted by John B. Watson, you would likely overhear him making a statement aligned with behaviorism, particularly about shaping any infant into a specialist, which corresponds to option (b) in the question.

Step-by-step explanation:

If you had been invited to a party at the home of John B. Watson in 1913, it is likely you would have overheard him making a statement similar to option (b): "Give me a dozen healthy infants, and my own specified world to bring them up in, and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select." John B. Watson is considered the founder of behaviorism, a school of thought in psychology that arose during the early 20th century. Watson believed that psychology should focus on observing and controlling observable behavior rather than internal mental processes. He argued that all behavior could be understood as a stimulus-response reaction, setting psychology on a course to become a more objective and measurable science.



Option (a), which references "The unconscious mind is the key to understanding behavior," would more likely be associated with Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytic theory. Option (c), "Behavior is primarily driven by unconscious conflicts," also aligns with Freud's theories. Option (d), "The mind is a blank slate at birth, and experiences shape behavior," while closer to Watson's perspective in that it disregards innate mental content, is not specifically attributable to him and resembles the stance of empiricism, a broader philosophical concept.

User Gabriel Mazetto
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