From: http://tip.psychology.org/thorn.html
Overview:
The
learning theory of Thorndike represents the original S-R framework of
behavioral psychology: Learning is the result of associations forming between
stimuli and responses. Such associations or "habits" become
strengthened or weakened by the nature and frequency of the S-R pairings. The
paradigm for S-R theory was trial and error learning in which certain responses
come to dominate others due to rewards. The hallmark of connectionism (like all
behavioral theory) was that learning could be adequately explained without
refering to any unobservable internal states.
Thorndike's
theory consists of three primary laws: (1) law of effect - responses to a
situation which are followed by a rewarding state of affairs will be
strengthened and become habitual responses to that situation, (2) law of
readiness - a series of responses can be chained together to satisfy some goal
which will result in annoyance if blocked, and (3) law of exercise -
connections become strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is discontinued.
A corollary of the law of effect was that responses that reduce the likelihood
of achieving a rewarding state (i.e., punishments, failures) will decrease in
strength.
The
theory suggests that transfer of learning depends upon the presence of
identical elements in the original and new learning situations; i.e., transfer
is always specific, never general. In later versions of the theory, the concept
of "belongingness" was introduced; connections are more readily
established if the person perceives that stimuli or responses go together (c.f.
Gestalt principles). Another concept introduced was "polarity" which
specifies that connections occur more easily in the direction in which they
were originally formed than the opposite. Thorndike also introduced the
"spread of effect" idea, i.e., rewards affect not only the connection
that produced them but temporally adjacent connections as well.
Scope/Application:
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 et al., 1927) and adult learning
(Thorndike at al., 1928).
Example:
The
classic example of Thorndike's S-R theory was a cat learning to escape from a
"puzzle box" by pressing a lever inside the box. After much trial and
error behavior, the cat learns to associate pressing the lever (S) with opening
the door (R). This S-R connection is established because it results in a
satisfying state of affairs (escape from the box). The law of exercise
specifies that the connection was established because the S-R pairing occurred
many times (the law of effect) and was rewarded (law of effect) as well as
forming a single sequence (law of readiness).
Principles:
1.
Learning requires both practice and rewards (laws of effect /exercise)
2.
A series of S-R connections can be chained together if they belong to the same
action sequence (law of readiness).
3.
Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered situations.
4.
Intelligence is a function of the number of connections learned.
References:
Thorndike,
E. (1913). Educational Psychology: The Psychology of Learning. New York:
Teachers College Press.
Thorndike,
E. (1921). The Teacher's Word Book. New York: Teachers College.
Thorndike,
E. (1922). The Psychology of Arithmetic. New York: Macmillan.
Thorndike,
E. (1932). The Fundamentals of Learning. New York: Teachers College Press.
Thorndike,
E. at al. (1927). The Measurement of Intelligence. New York: Teachers College
Press.
Thorndike,
E. et al. (1928), Adult Learning. New York: Macmillan
Relevant
Web Pages:
For
more about Thorndike and his work, see:
http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/ethorndike.shtml
http://www.nwlink.com/~Donclark/hrd/history/thorndike.html
http://www.nwlink.com/~Donclark/hrd/history/thorndike.html
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