Mary C. Jones Quotes

United States, Psychologist
September 1, 1897 – July, 22, 1987.

Mary Cover-Jones (September 1, 1897 – July 22, 1987) was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and died in Santa Barbara, California. Within psychology—a scientific field dominated by males throughout much of the 20th century—Cover-Jones stands out as a pioneer of behavior therapy; Joseph Wolpe dubbed her "the mother of behavior therapy" due to her famous study of Peter and development of desensitization.

From reading over the notes for each session it was apparent that there had been improvement by more or less regular steps from almost complete terror at sight of the rabbit to a completely positive response with no signs of disturbance.

Mary C. Jones
From the test situations which were used to reveal fears, it was found that Peter showed even more marked fear responses to the rabbit than to the rat.

Mary C. Jones
- Fear

He showed in the last interview, as on the later portions of the chart, a genuine fondness for the rabbit.

Mary C. Jones
Peter was 2 years and 10 months old when we began to study him. He was afraid of a white rat, and this fear extended to a rabbit, a fur coat, a feather, cotton wool, etc., but not to wooden blocks and similar toys.

Mary C. Jones
- Fear
- Study
New situations requiring closer contact with the rabbit had been gradually introduced and the degree to which these situations were avoided, tolerated, or welcomed, at each experimental session, gave the measure of improvement.

Mary C. Jones
- Improvement
Peter's fear of the animals which were shown him was probably not a directly conditioned fear.

Mary C. Jones
- Fear