Juan J. Medina
Edward Lee Thorndike
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Edward Lee Thorndike
The Father of Modern Educational Psychology; his
research on animal behavior regarding the learning
process helped establish the foundation for
educational psychology.
Edward Lee Thorndike
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Edward Thorndike’s innovations in the field of
comparative psychology led to the development of
the theory of connectionism and turn of the century
advances in how we understand behavior, as it is
association with learning.
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Edward Lee Thorndike was borne to the family of a
Methodist Minister in Lowell, Massachusetts in
1874
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Born into an age of shifting foundations, where
agrarian antecedents were being replaced with
mechanical prowess.
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In 1898 he completed his Doctorate with his thesis
on Animal Intelligence that established his then
controversial Law of Effect.
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One year after receiving his Doctorate, Thorndike
joined the Teachers College at Columbia University
as a psychology professor where he remained for
the rest of his career.
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Interesting to note that Thorndike was a
contemporary of Pavlov and Watson, but is less
known mainly to due to the fact that much of what
he developed was later associated with B. F.
Skinner.
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In 1912, he was elected president of the American
Psychological Association.
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In 1934, Thorndike became the head of the
American Association for the Advancement of
Science. Retiring only five years later in 1939.
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1949 Thorndike died, having published over 500
books and articles, leaving a legacy that framed the
principles of learning theory.
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Thorndike's Theory of Learning could be distilled
into a few key principles that still hold to our
current understanding of cognitive psychology.
They are as follows:
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Trial and error is the most basic type of
learning.
Learning in its purest form is incremental.
Learning is not bound by ideas.
All animals learn in the same manner.
These basic principles are distilled from
Thorndike’s Laws of Readiness, Exercise, and
Effect.
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Thorndike’s Laws of Readiness suggests, that
interference with goal-directed behaviors will result
in frustration.
So
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Frustrated
Also, causing an action that is not desired will also
result in frustration.
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Thorndike’s Laws of Exercise asserts that we
simply learn best by doing [law of use]. It also
suggests that learning is lost when practice is not
present, although to a lesser degree [law of disuse].
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Thorndike’s Laws of Effect is perhaps his most
important work regarding learning.
The Law of Effect states that behavior that is
followed by a positive consequence is likely to be
repeated; conversely, any behavior followed by a
negative consequence is likely to be abandoned.
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Thorndike came to this understanding of learning
through a series of experiments conducted on cats
by placing them in a “puzzle box” [I like that part]
and encouraged the cat to escape by installing fish
outside of the box [this is where he lost me].
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Cat in the box video
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Thorndike found, that the cat’s escape time was
reduced, as the cat became familiar with the
positive reinforcement outside of the box in
conjunction with discovering the means to egress
outward.
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If this seems familiar to the tune of operant
conditioning, you are right!
B. F. Skinner’s framework for operant conditioning
that describes reinforcement as central in modifying
behavior rests on theoretical and empirical
foundations established by Edward Thorndike.
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TheBigBang
Theory!*!*!
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Operant conditioning Big Bang Theory
<iframe width="1280" height="720"
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qy_mIEnnlF
4?rel=0" frameborder="0"
allowfullscreen></iframe>
Whereas classical conditioning depends on
developing associations between events, Skinner’s
operant conditioning involves learning from the
consequences of our behavior. Skinner believed
that behavior could be fully understood in terms of
environmental cues and results.
Penny learned that being agreeable to Sheldon
results in earning a treat.
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According to Lefrancois, (1972) “Thorndike's work
is often called connectionism, because of the idea
that bonds between stimulus and response take the
form of neural connections. Learning involves the
"stamping in" of connections, forgetting involves
"stamping out" connections.”
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One might consider if and how his theory of
learning aligns with behavioral modification
systems used in educational settings?
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Behavioral modification systems in educational
settings aim to control the verbal or physical input
as a means to generate an improved or desired
behavior. This is called replacement behavior.
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Also, we should look at the antecedents and
consequences of behavior in the educational setting.
As more often than not, antecedents set the stage for
negative behavioral responses exhibited at school.
One of my personal fictional favorite negative
consequences was Despicable Me’s Box of Shame
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Much later, Albert Bandura asked us to consider
behavior as learned, through social imitation and
copying. As educators, we need to consider
antecedents when we develop plans for replacing
negative behaviors. The home is a powerful
learning place, whether or not the learning is
positive.
Bobo-doll Bandura video
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src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hHHdovKH
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To recap the works of Thorndike, all laws
regarding learning are connected.
The Law of Effect stated that the responses are
linked to positive or negative rewards. Connected
to the Law of Effect is The law of Recency, which
asserts that the most recent response is likely to be
repeated. The law of exercise asserts that
associations between an action and an effect are
supported through repetition.
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Refrences
Bandura, A. (1961). Transmission of aggression
through imitation of aggressive models. The Journal of
abnormal and social psychology, 63(3), 575.
Lefrancois, 1972)
Kearsley, G. (n.d.) Connectionism
(E. Thorndike). Retrieved June 9, /2012 from
http://tip.psychology.org/thorn.html
Leahey, Thomas H. A History of Psychology, (New
Jersey: Englewood Cliffs, 1992)
McLeod, S. A. (2007). Simply Psychology; Edward
Thorndike. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/edwardthorndike.html
Thorndike, E L. (1999). Education psychology.
[electronic resource] : Briefer course. In Education
psychology [electronic resource]: Briefer course /
edward l. thorndike.
Thorndike, E L. (2000). Animal intelligence:
Experimental studies. In Animal intelligence.
Transaction Publishers.
"Thorndike, Edward Lee 1874-1949." American
Decades. 2001. Retrieved June 14, 2012 from
Encyclopedia.com:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G23468300083.html
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Van Wagner, K. (2010), The Rise of Behaviorism,
http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/
psychistory_3.htm
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