Ebbinghaus said this because psychology’s questions go back to the ancients

Thorndike studied at Wesleyan Univ, founded by the Methodist church – a very shy but brilliant student.

• Thorndike studied at Wesleyan Univ, founded by the Methodist church – a very shy but brilliant student.

• He read Principles of Psychology & it changed his life.

• Thorndike went to Harvard and studied with James.

• Mind-reading experiments with children looked for subtle movements in the face, rewarding children with candy for correct guesses.

• Later, he penned chickens who had to find a way out to get food and water – eventually they learned to escape.

Thorndike accepted a grad fellowship at Columbia.

• Thorndike accepted a grad fellowship at Columbia.

• He planned to study Lamarckian inheritance of learning so he took his chickens with him but switched to cats.

• He built 15 puzzle boxes for use with cats.

• Cats showed trial & error at first but learned to escape quickly and smoothly.
• Satisfiers strengthen responses, annoyers weaken them.

• Tolman said: “The psychology of learning has been … a matter of disagreeing with Thorndike or trying to improve in a minimum way upon him.” (1898)

Thorndike used 15 different boxes requiring different behaviors to escape.

• Thorndike used 15 different boxes requiring different behaviors to escape.

• Animals did not learn all with the same ease.
• Boxes using a single, discrete response were easiest.
• Boxes requiring multiple responses (pulling a loop then moving a stick or two bolts) were not learned.
• Boxes requiring more force (400 gms) were not learned

• The more boxes a cat was tested in, thye better it learned to escape – they developed “learning sets.”

• No benefit from observation or imitation or help.

Thorndike intentionally ignored previous comparative researchers.

• Thorndike intentionally ignored previous comparative researchers.

• He felt their anecdotal reports needed to be replaced by objective experiments.

• Mills asserted that animals put into non-natural settings may be too confused to behave normally.

• Thorndike published a harsh rebuttal addressing the criticisms in the June 1899 Psychological Review.

• His cats grew up in the lab so for them it was not artificial.

After a year at the College for Women of Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, Thorndike was offered a job at Teacher’s College, Columbia Univ.

• After a year at the College for Women of Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, Thorndike was offered a job at Teacher’s College, Columbia Univ.

• He averaged 10 publications a year, most major.
• He was criticized for publishing his lecture notes.

• He extended his learning studies to dogs and Cebus monkeys and studied fish at Woods Hole, MA.

• Ultimately he emphasized education more and became an expert on educational measurement.

He opposed Spearman’s concept of “general intelligence” but thought of intelligence as a combination of specific skills and abilities.

• He opposed Spearman’s concept of “general intelligence” but thought of intelligence as a combination of specific skills and abilities.

• He developed a CAVD IQ test consisting of subtests to measure sentence completion (C), arithmetic (A), vocabulary (V) and ability to follow directions (D).

• He believed that heredity determined intelligence and supported systematic eugenics.

• He opposed educational egalitarianism – proposing tracking and nurture of high intelligence.

Thorndike worked on numerous industrial problems.

• Thorndike worked on numerous industrial problems.

• Employee exams and selection tests for workers.
• Statistical analysis for the Army Testing Project in WWI.
• Invested in Cattell’s Psychological Corporation.

• Surveyed quality of life in American cities, published in Your City (1939) and One Hundred Forty-Four Smaller Cities (1940).

• A composite G score evaluated quality of life.
• A composite P score measured genetic quality of the population in each city.

Thorndike studied word usage, compiling lists of the 10,000 most frequently occurring words.

• Thorndike studied word usage, compiling lists of the 10,000 most frequently occurring words.

• He urged teachers to spend time teaching children to spell and use these words.

• In 1931, he published a Junior Dictionary and in 1940 the Thorndike Senior-Century Dictionary.

• Bad: “Bear = a carnivorous plantigrade quadruped.”
• Thorndike made a rule that the definition must be simpler than the word itself.

• He proposed “babble-luck” as a learning theory.

Thorndike turned down a professorship at Harvard and was elected APA president in 1912, and president of the AAAS in 1933.

• Thorndike turned down a professorship at Harvard and was elected APA president in 1912, and president of the AAAS in 1933.

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