Edward Lee Thorndike was an American psychologist known as the father of modern educational psychology. He spent his career at Teachers College, Columbia University developing theories of learning based on his experiments with animals in puzzle boxes. Thorndike proposed three laws of learning: the Law of Readiness, the Law of Exercise, and the Law of Effect. These laws emphasized that learning is based on forming associations between stimuli and responses through repeated practice and rewards. Thorndike viewed learning as incremental and direct rather than insightful or mediated by ideas. His theories were influential in the development of behaviorism and the application of psychological principles to education.

1. Presented by
Falak Yasmeen 612
Zainab Mukhtar 618
Usman Hadif 620

2.  Born: 31 August 1874, Williamsburg ,
Massachusetts, United state
 Died: 9 August 1949,
 Known for: Father of modern
educational psychology
 Edward Lee Thorndike was an
American psychologist who spent
nearly his entire career at Teachers
College, Columbia University.

3.  Learning is the process of forming
associations or bonds, which he defined as
“the connection of a certain act with a
certain situation and resultant pleasure”
 Thorndike concern was not only for stimulus
conditions and tendencies to action but also
for what held the stimulus and response
together.

4.  The Law of Readiness
A law which states that learning is
dependent upon the learner's readiness to
act, which facilitates the strengthening of
the bond between stimulus and response.

5.  A law which states that, in learning, the
more frequently a stimulus and response are
associated with each other, the more likely
the particular response will follow the
stimulus. The law implies that one learns by
doing and one cannot learn a skill, for
instance, by watching others.

6.  The Law of effect is a psychological principle
which states that
 ‘’Response that produce a satisfying effect in
a particular situation become more likely to
occur again in that situation and responses
that way.’’

7.  The Law of Effect is a psychological
principal which states that ‘’Responses that
produce a satisfying effect in a particular
situation become more likely to occur again
in that situation and responses that..

8. Learning involves trial and error or
selection & connection:
Cat stamp in and stamp out for
correct responses. Example
False attempts made by cat.
Selection & connection of proper
responses to connect or associate
them with adequate stimuli.
 Example: subsequent trials, cat
tried to avoid the erroneous moves
& to repeat the correct manner
manipulating the latch.

10. Learning is the result of
formation of connections:
Connection in nervous system between
stimuli & responses. Mind is man’s
connection system. Association between
sense, impression, impulse & action. This
association is named as bond or connection.
Association may be strengthen or weaken
results in making or breaking habits. This
type of association is known as
connectionism or bond psychology.

11. Learning is incremental, not insightful:
Learning performance depends on number of trials
or opportunities. Increase in number of trials or
practice performance gradually improves known
as incremental performance. Such type of
learning is called incremental learning.
 Example: solution of a problem does not strike
the mind of the animal at once & the time an
animal needs to find a solution to a problem
depends upon the number of trials it gets to solve
it.

12. Learning is direct, not mediated by
ideas:
Learning is direct not mediated by ideas
reasoning or thinking. Learning is simple
mechanical phenomenon a process of
establishing a simple connection between
sensory stimuli & appropriate responses.
 Example: the cat does not look over the
situation, much less think it over, and then
decide what to do. It bursts out at once into
the activities helped by instincts &
experiences.

13.  Thorndike's law of effect and puzzle box methodology
were subjected to detailed criticism by behaviourist and
many other psychologists. The criticisms over the law of
effect mostly cover four aspects of the theory: the
implied or retroactive working of the effect, the
philosophical implication of the law, the identification of
the effective conditions that cause learning, and the
comprehensive usefulness of the law.

14. Connectionism was meant to be a
general theory of learning for animals
and humans. Thorndike was especially
interested in the application of his
theory to education including
mathematics (Thorndike, 1922),
spelling and reading (Thorndike, 1921),
measurement of intelligence
(Thorndike 1927) and adult learning
(Thorndike 1928).