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Rosalie Rayner

Childhood
Rosalie Alberta Rayner was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 25, 1898. Her father and grandfather, Albert William Rayner and William Solomon Rayner, respectively, were successful businessmen. She had a sister, Evelyn, and her mother was Rebecca Selner Rayner. The family made a comfortable living in railroads, mining, and shipbuilding. The Rayner family also supported Johns Hopkins University, where they contributed $10,000 for research. Her uncle was also a prominent public figure. Isidor Rayner was a senator in Maryland who managed public inquiries into the sinking of the Titanic, he also served as Attorney General of Maryland for four years.

Education
Rosalie Rayner began her continuing education at Vassar College located in New York, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1919. Here, she studied alongside Mary Cover Jones, another prominant woman psychologist whose focus was on lifetime development. Upon graduation, she enrolled at John Hopkins University, with the intention of earning a graduate degree in the field of psychology. She was hired as an assistant to John B. Watson, who is best known for pioneering the approach to behaviorism.

Over her time at John Hopkins University, she conducted some research on alcohol in the body, but most prominantly did research on behaviorism (Smirle, 2013). During the 1920's, she influenced the field of behavioral psychology tremendously, though often overshadowed by Watson. Her and Watson had goals of altering people's family lives, so that it reflected a scientific laboratory, in that behaviors could be conditioned and controlled. Behaviorism was a term that Watson had forced into the field of psychology, where the goal was to predict and control behaviors. He believed that behaviors were not hardwired at birth, but they gradually built up through conditioning.

In her time at John Hopkins, her and Watson studied over 500 children, with the "Little Albert" study being their most famous psychological experiment, which in today's time, would be deamed highly unethical. This study got published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. The results of the Little Albert experiment and what followed are highlighted in the "career" section.

A little bit of information on behavioral psychology: Watson and Rayner's work proved that a child's personality and behavior type is largely based on the first years of that child's life, and the experiences that occur during that time.

Marriage
Rayner's collaboration with Watson led to an affair, which he divorced his previous wife, Mary Ickes. The public divorce became very bitter between the two. Watson's love letters to Rayner were made public in the newspapers for everyone to read. Due to the scandal, Watson was then forced to leave academia, however, Rayner stayed with him. Rayner then left the university before she finished her degree and the two married on December 31, 1920 and moved to Connecticut, with Watson working for the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson. The couple had two sons together, William and Jame.

Career
Rosalie Rayner worked as a graduate student in Watson's Lab at John Hopkins University and conduct the Little Albert experiment studying classical conditioning. During this experiment, Albert was 9-months-old. Rayner and Watson exposed Albert to many furry animals to see if he had a preconditioned fear. Then they started making a very loud sound behind Albert's back every time a white rat was presented in front of him in order to condition a fear of the rat. Rayner and Watson's results showed that Little Albert generalized his fear of white rats, to other furry, white animals.This study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Rayner and Watson worked together on an article called Studies in Infant Psychology, in which they studied over 500 children at different stages of development. This article drew conclusions about behavior and how it is always the result of some type of stimulus. This article also stated that if the relationship between a stimulus and behavior could be seen, more forms of emotional expression could be taught. Rayner and Watson believed that children could have a personality set by the age of 2.

Rayner also contributed to a how-to book called Psychological Care of Infant and Child. This book encouraged mothers to approach child-rearing with scientific principles. In the chapter Too Much Motherly Love the maternal bond was addressed. Rayner described how too much tenderness and love towards your child could be dangerous and wreck their future and future marital happiness.

Rayner's first sole-authored article, I Am the Mother of a Behaviorist's Son was published in 1930. This article was Rayner's only access to a voice without Watson. Rayner's views portrayed in this article were in favor of breaking the mother attachment as early as possible. However, int his book she did portray her affection towards her own sons.

Death
Rayner unexpectedly died on June 18, 1935 in Horwalk Hospital, Conneecticut. She had contracted dysentery from eating tainted fruit. Watson was troubled with her death and never remarried. In later years, their two sons reflected on their childhood as they both developed depression in adulthood. Both sons attempted suicide, while William had successfully. James stated that his father’s principles on behaviorism in their strict parenting practices resulted in inhibiting his and his brother’s ability to effectively deal with human emotion, adding that it undermined their self-esteem later in life.