ABSTRACT
Although in his behaviourist call to arms in 1913 Watson was extremely scathing about 'pure' psychologists who were 'not interested in a psychology which concerns itself with human life', his own career switch from academic life to the hurly-burly of Madison Avenue was not altogether intentional. The president of Johns Hopkins University had called him in one day, and made certain remarks about Watson's personal life, with the result that Watson wrote out a brief note tendering his resignation before leaving the president's office. Watson had already advocated field research, and the application of objective methods to human psychology, with the goal of finding 'general and particular methods by which behaviour may be controlled'. Although Watson was able to make a fortune by selling himself and his ideas to the American advertising industry, it is hard to believe that in doing so he contributed significantly to the general alleviation of human misery.
