Study: Law of effect (Thorndike, 1898)

• Operant conditioning


  A type of learning whereby the consequence of a behaviour determines the likelihood that it will be performed in the future
• Operant conditioning proposes that someone will tend to repeat a behaviour that has a desirable consequence or that will enable it to avoid undesirable consequences
• An individual will not repeat a behaviour that has undesirable consequences
• Edward Thorndike: '“Responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation (Gray, 2011, p. 108–109).”'
• Edward Thorndike is famous in psychology for his work on learning theory that leads to the development of operant conditioning within behaviourism


  1898
• Operant conditioning


  Involves learning from the consequences of our behaviour
• Skinner wasn’t the first psychologist to study learning by consequences
• Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning is built on the ideas of Edward Thorndike
• Thorndike studied learning in animals (usually cats)
• Thorndike's Experiment


  1. Aim

  2. Method

  3. Results
• Aim of Thorndike's experiment


  To study the learning ability of cats to escape the box in order to reach food
• Method of Thorndike's experiment

  1. Placed cat in box

  2. Latched door shut

  3. Observed behaviour

  4. Logged escape time

  5. Repeated experiment
• Thorndike's puzzle box experiment utilised only three tools: the box itself, the subjects of the experiment (cats), and a bowl of food placed on the table outside of the box
• During the series of experiments, Thorndike discovered that, at first, the cats frantically moved around the box to find a way out
• Their movements were random and impulsive
• At some point in their struggles, the cats triggered the release mechanism and escaped the box
• The cats escaped the box more quickly as the process was repeated
• Eventually, the cats would go straight for the lever and escape almost immediately
• Thorndike repeated the experiment using more complicated release systems
• Although the cats took longer to figure out the action that would release the door, their patterns of learning were similar to that of the previous versions
• Thorndike's puzzle box experiments gave him an insight into how animals learn
• His work debunked a long-held belief that animals thought through problems using logical reasoning
• Thorndike's work pointed instead to a more primal process of trial and error
• 1. R Theory


  A theory that states learning results from associating stimuli (S) and responses (R)
• Thorndike's addition to the S-R framework included the Law of Effect
• Law of Effect


  The idea that responses to stimuli that lead to a positive result will be repeated
• Negative result


  Responses that lead to a negative result will be eliminated in the future
• Thorndike’s theory changed the way that the world's educators approached learning
• Thorndike's puzzle box showed that the learning process is often chaotic and random
• Problem-solving in learning comes through a system of trial and error
• Students find success "accidentally" and then determine which action or behavior led to the success
• Thorndike's work added outcome as a new variable in the S-R Theory
• Thorndike's work gave future educators the idea to use a reward system as a motivator to encourage students to reach their learning objectives