Exactly where and when did John B. Watson speak of shaping the
emotional lives of children the way a blacksmith fabricates metal:  he
takes his heated mass, places it on the anvil, and begins to shape it
according to patterns of his own.  Sometimes, he uses a heavy hammer,
sometimes a light one, sometimes .. a mighty blow, sometimes just a
touch.  I need a primary reference.  I do not have any more
information.

Hello.

Nice to hear from you again!

You'll find John B. Watson's quotation on pages 46-47 of his book
"Psychological Care of Infant and Child" (1928).

Here is the quotation in context:

"In the preceding chapter I brought out the fact that all we have to
start with in building a human being is a lively squirming bit of
flesh, capable of making a few simple responses such as movements of
the hands and arms and fingers and toes, crying and smiling, making
certain sounds with its throat. I said there that parents take this
raw material and begin to fashion it in ways to suit themselves. This
means that parents, whether they know it or not, start intensive
training of the child at birth.
  It is especially easy to shape the emotional life at this early age.
I might make this simple comparison: The fabricator of metal takes his
heated mass, places it upon the anvil and begins to shape it according
to patterns of his own. Sometimes he uses a heavy hammer, sometimes a
light one; sometimes he strikes the yielding mass a mighty blow,
sometimes he gives it just a touch. So inevitably do we begin at birth
to shape the emotional life of our children. The blacksmith has all
the advantage. If his strokes have been heavy and awkward and he
spoils his work, he can put the metal back on the fire and start the
process over. There is no way of starting over again with the child.
Every stroke, be it true or false, has its effect. The best we can do
is to conceal, skillfully as we may, the defects of our shaping. We
can still make a useful instrument, an instrument that will work, but
how few human instruments have ever been perfectly shaped to fit the
environments in which they function!"

source: Psychological Care of Infant and Child, by John B. Watson,
with the assistance of Rosalie Rayner Watson. New York, W. W. Norton
[c1928], pages 46-47.
See Library of Congress catalog entry for bibliographic data:
http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=1&DB=local&CMD=010a+28010966&CNT=10+records+per+page


search strategy:
Google: watson anvil "patterns of his own"
This led me to an article that included a partial quotation:
http://web.mit.edu/21fms/www/faculty/henry3/pub/spock.html
I printed out the postscript version of the article:
http://web.mit.edu/21fms/www/faculty/henry3/pub/spock.ps
That version included a footnote citing the book mentioned above.
I then paid a visit to a local library, and obtained the book.

I hope this helps. Thank you.

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Request for Answer Clarification by sylk-ga on 15 Oct 2003 11:04 PDT

I am in awe of your scholarship and the rapidity of your response. 
Thank you again, for your help with your help on the Russell Smith
quotation on lauguage.  I was able to contact ETC. in California and
get a copy of the volume to which you had alerted me.  Perfect!

I have just ordered a copy of the Watson Psychological Care of Infant
and Child to verify your quotation, but I am assuming that it is
verifiable.  Thank you so very much for your help.  I look forward to
working with you again.  Did Google also refer you to my question
about Jung?
Best,
Sylvia

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 15 Oct 2003 11:56 PDT

Sylvia:
Thank you very much for the generous tip! I've done a little
preliminary searching on the Carl Jung question, but I haven't come up
with anything yet.  I will definitely devote some additional effort to
it, though!
Thanks again.
-juggler

excellent answer and extremely rapid response--I appreciate that
juggler-ga was able to answer the question immediately, without having
to ask me any further clarifying information. Thanks so much.  Sylvia