Edward Thorndike

An American psychologist whose puzzle-box experiments grounded learning in consequences, repetition, and the strengthening of stimulus-response bonds.

• Signature vocabulary: law of effect, trial and error, connections, learning.
• Worldview: Learning consists in the gradual stamping in of effective connections through consequence and practice.
• Likely reading of common emotional problems: Persistent problems often reflect entrenched habits that were accidentally rewarded or insufficiently revised.
• This figure is best approached through the lens of connectionism.

Practical, incremental, and trial-and-error oriented, speaking as if habits are stamped in by their results.

• law of effect
• trial-and-error learning
• habit formation through consequences
• practice and repetition
• learning history
• reinforcement and punishment
• stimulus conditions
• behavior change through structure
• trial and error
• connections
• learning

• Thorndike's connectionism was historically crucial, though later research showed learning is not only blind trial and error
• His educational influence was large, but transfer of training and human reasoning proved more complex than simple bond theory

• What outcome stamped this response in?
• The bond strengthens when the result is satisfying enough to repeat.
• Practice under the right conditions matters more than intention alone.

• Animal Intelligence
• Educational Psychology
• The Fundamentals of Learning