Edward Thorndike

Edward Lee Thorndike (August 31, 1874 – August 9, 1949) was an American psychologist. He worked almost his whole career at Teachers College, Columbia University. Thorndike studied how animals and people learn, which helped create the field of comparative psychology and educational psychology.

He created the "theory of connectionism" to explain how learning happens. His ideas were very important for understanding how behavior works. One of his most famous ideas was the law of effect, which shows how rewards and consequences can shape what people and animals do.

Thorndike also helped solve problems in business, like making good tests for employees. He was president of the American Psychological Association in 1912 and was part of the Psychological Corporation. In 2002, a big review named him as one of the most well-known psychologists of the 20th century. His work still influences how teachers help students learn today.

Early life and education

Edward Thorndike was born on August 31, 1874, in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. His father was a minister in Lowell, Massachusetts. Edward went to school at The Roxbury Latin School and later Wesleyan University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 1895. He then studied at Harvard University and received a master's degree in 1897.

At Harvard, Edward became very interested in how animals learn and worked with the famous psychologist William James. After finishing his studies, he went back to focusing on how people learn. In 1898, he earned his PhD at Columbia University, studying under James McKeen Cattell. In 1899, Edward began teaching psychology at Teachers College, part of Columbia University, where he stayed for the rest of his career. He studied many topics, including how people learn and ways to measure thinking skills. In 1937, he became the leader of the Psychometric Society.

Edward married Elizabeth Moulton in 1900, and they had five children, one of whom, Frances, grew up to be a mathematician. Early in his career, Edward bought a lot of land near the Hudson River and invited other researchers to live nearby, creating a small community where he was a kind of leader.

Connectionism

Edward Thorndike was a pioneer in studying how animals learn. He created special boxes called puzzle boxes to see how cats could solve problems. Inside each box, there was a way to open the door, like pressing a lever or pulling a string. When the cat figured this out, the door would open and the cat could escape, often getting a treat like food.

At first, the cats didn’t know how to get out and would move around a lot. But after trying different things, they would accidentally press the right spot and escape. Thorndike watched how long it took for the cats to escape each time. He found that with more tries, the cats learned to escape faster. This showed that learning happens step by step, not all at once. His work helped explain how learning works for both animals and people.

Adult learning

Edward Thorndike used his skills in testing to help the United States Army during World War I. He helped create a test called the Army Beta to assess people who could not read, had no schooling, or did not speak English.

Thorndike believed that learning does not stop until around age 35, and even then, it slows down only a little bit each year. He also created the law of effect, which means that actions that lead to good results are more likely to happen again later. He thought that all animals learn in similar ways, through trying different things and seeing what works best.

Eugenics

Edward Thorndike believed in the idea of eugenics. He thought that careful planning could help people learn better, stay healthy, and live happier lives. He said that by making smart choices for future generations, we could create a better world for everyone. He felt it was important to focus on improving people's natural qualities, not just their surroundings, to ensure a brighter future for all.

Thorndike on education

Edward Thorndike helped start a new way of thinking in psychology. He believed in using science and facts to understand how people learn, especially in schools. He thought that learning should help people do better, not just follow what comes naturally.

Thorndike talked about how rewards and consequences shape learning. He said that when something good happens after a behavior, that behavior is more likely to happen again. But if something unpleasant follows a behavior, it is less likely to happen. Teachers can use praise to encourage good actions and ignore unwanted actions to help children learn better.

Beliefs about the behavior of women

Edward Thorndike thought that differences in how men and women behave come from natural, biological reasons, not just from how they are raised. He believed that even if boys and girls grew up in the same environment, there would still be important differences in their thoughts and actions because of these natural instincts.

At the time, many people shared Thorndike's views. For example, he talked about how women might naturally tend to be more submissive to men because, on average, men are physically larger. These ideas were common in his time, even though they are not always accepted today.

Thorndike's word books

Edward Thorndike created three word books to help teachers teach reading. The first book, called The Teacher's Word Book, came out in 1921. He then wrote two more books about ten years apart. The second book, A Teacher's Word Book of the Twenty Thousand Words Found Most Frequently and Widely in General Reading for Children and Young People, was published in 1932. The last book, The Teacher's Word Book of 30,000 Words, came out in 1944.

Thorndike wanted these books to help teachers decide which words to focus on. He explained that words on the list are very common in books and should be taught well so students remember them. Words not on the list might only need to be understood when they appear in a story and can be forgotten after that. He used many popular books and texts to count how often words appear, including Shakespeare and famous stories like Black Beauty.

Thorndike's influence

Edward Thorndike had a big impact on psychology. His work helped shape many areas, including how we understand learning and behavior. He was especially important for scientists who study animals and how they learn. His ideas paved the way for a field called behaviorism.

Thorndike was one of the first to look at how rewards and results affect what people and animals learn. He showed that what happens after a behavior matters a lot — good results help us remember and repeat actions, while bad results do not change behavior as much. His work influenced many famous psychologists and helped change how we think about learning.

Accomplishments

Edward Thorndike achieved many important milestones in his career. In 1912, he became president of the American Psychological Association. He was also elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and admitted to the National Academy of Sciences in 1917. Thorndike is famous for his animal experiments that led to the law of effect. Later, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1932 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1934. In 1934, he also served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Criticism

Edward Thorndike's ideas about learning were sometimes seen as too simple by other scientists who study how people behave. Some experts questioned how his theories worked in practice and what they really meant.

During protests in 2020, leaders at the school where Thorndike worked decided to take his name off a building because they did not agree with some of his old ideas.

Selected works

Edward Thorndike wrote many important books and articles about psychology and education. Some of his most famous works include:

• "Animal Intelligence: An Experimental Study of the Associative Processes in Animals" – This was his original doctoral dissertation, exploring how animals learn and solve problems.
• "The Elements of Psychology" – A textbook that helped explain basic psychological ideas.
• "Educational Psychology" – A series of books looking at how people learn and how to teach effectively.

Thorndike also published many articles in scientific journals, discussing topics like memory, learning, and problem-solving. His work has had a lasting impact on how we understand education and human behavior today.