Edward Lee Thorndike (1874—1949)

Indian Institute of Management, Indore

EPGP-2018-19

POID: Assignment- Group No. 11

Contributions of

Edward Lee Thorndike

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Edward Lee Thorndike (1874—1949)

Group Members:

• Swati Kumari, Roll No. 60
• Tushar Goyal, Roll No. 62
• Udit Dobhal, Roll No. 63
• Virat Nanda, Roll No. 64
• Vivek Sharma, Roll No. 65
• Yogesh Singhal, Roll No. 66

Contents

Life Background        3

Framework/theory, concept        3

Main Contribution        4

Features of Trial and Error Learning        5

The Puzzle Box Experiment        5

Law of Effect        6

Research on Learning in Humans        7

Influence in the Fields of Psychology and Education        7

Influence on other Psychologists’ work        7

Focus and limitation        8

Comparing view points        10

Classical Conditioning: -        10

Operant Conditioning: -        11

Implications for workplace and life        12

Summary        14

References:        16

Life Background

At the growing stage of psychology, many educators and researchers were involved in knowing and understanding the relations of mental processes and behaviours. Amongst all, an outstanding, energetic person started at very young age and contributed to the field for fifty long years. He, Edward Thorndike, is recognized as the most productive psychologist across world. His full bibliography covers up to over 500 titles of which over 50 are books; and almost everything he wrote was based on data appropriately explained with concrete facts.

Edward Thorndike was born to a family of Methodist minister in Williamsburg, Massachusetts in 1874. His parents and grandparents were all natives of the state of Maine. His father, Edward Roberts Thorndike started with practicing law in Maine and later became a Methodist pastor in Massachusetts where most of his followers lived. Raised in a strict and religious household environment Edward Thorndike preferred to avoid religion and follow his own conduct based on inductivism.

He was a very successful student at Wesleyan University and graduated in 1895 with a degree of Bachelor of Science. Later, he enrolled at Harvard University taking up English and French Literature as his subjects.

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