John Watson (1878-1958) was one of the more colorful figures in the history of American psychology. The poor son of violent, drinking man in South Carolina, Watson managed to gain admission to a local college, and then studied psychology at University of Chicago. He became interested in the conditioning studies of Pavlov, and became the father of American Behaviorism. Watson’s most infamous experiment involved an 11 month old boy named Albert, in whom Watson argued that he could create psychopathology by purely behavioral means. Little Albert was shown a rat, and as he reached for it, a steel bar was struck by a hammer behind him. This was repeated, and eventually poor Albert developed a phobia of rats and other furry objects, including rabbits, Santa’s mask, and Watson’s white hair!

Source: Classics in the History of Psychology, Christopher D. Green, http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/intro.htm