EDWARD THORNDIKE

THEORY ON CONNECTIONISM
 UNLOCKING OF DIFFICULTIES
 BEHAVIORAL LEARNING THEORIES
Focus on the ways in which pleasurable or unpleasant consequences of
behavior changes individuals’ behavior overtime and ways in which individual
model their behavior on that of others.
 LEARNING
Defined as a change in and individual caused by experience.
 STIMULI
Any object or event that elicits a sensory or behavioral response in an organism
 RESPONSE
A behavior that was the result of a stimulus
 EDWARD L. THORNDIKE
 Thorndike, like many of the early
behavioral learning theorist, linked
behavior to physical reflexes
 In his early work he also viewed most
behavior as a response to stimuli in the
environment
 This view that stimuli can prompt
responses was the frontrunner of what
became known as a STIMULUS-
RESPONSE THEORY (S-R THEORY)
 More than a hundred years ago, he
wrote a textbook entitled, Educational
Psychology. He was the first one to use
this term.
 He explained that learning is the result
of the associations forming between
Stimulus (S) and Responses (R)
 Such association “HABIT” become
strengthened or weakened by the nature
and frequency of the S-R pairing
 This model was trial and error learning
in which certain responses came to be
repeated more than others because of
rewards.
 The main principle of
CONNECTIONISM (like all behavioral
theory) was the learning could be
adequately explained without
considering any unobservable internal
state.
 Connectionism states that learning has
taken place when a strong connection or
bond between stimulus and response is
formed
 Thorndike’s LAW OF EFFECT states that if
an act is followed by a satisfying change in
the environment, the likelihood that the act
will be repeated in similar situation increases.
However, if a behavior is followed by an
unsatisfying change in the environment, the
chances that the behavior will be repeated
decrease. Thus, Thorndike showed that the
consequences of one’s present behavior play a
crucial role in determining one’s future
behavior.
 Thorndike went beyond Pavlov by showing
that stimuli that occurred after a behavior had
an influence on future behavior.
 In many of his experiments, Thorndike placed
cats in boxes from which they had to escape
to get food. He observed that over time, the
cats learned how to get out of the box more
and more quickly by repeating the behaviors
that led to escape and not repeating the
behavior that were ineffective
LAW OF EFFECT
 Imagine that you arrive early to work one day
by accident. Your boss notices and praises
your diligence. The praise makes you feel
good, so it reinforces the behavior. You start
showing up for work a little bit early each day
to keep receiving your boss’s commendations.
Because a pleasing consequence followed the
behavior, the action became more likely to be
repeated in the future
More Examples :
 If you study and then get a good grade
on a test, you will be more likely to
study for the next exam
 If you work hard and then receive a
promotion and pay raise, you will be
more likely to continue to put in more
effort at work
 If you run a red light and then get a
traffic ticket, you will be less likely to
disobey traffic lights in the future
 There are two key aspects of the law of effect:
 Behaviors immediately followed by favorable consequences are more
likely to occur again. In our earlier example, being praised by a
supervisor for showing up early for work made it more likely that the
behavior would be repeated.
 Behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences are less likely to
occur again. If you show up late for work and miss an important
meeting, you will probably be less likely to show up late again in the
future. Because you view the missed meeting as a negative outcome,
the behavior is less likely to be repeated.
LAW OF EXERCISE
 Thorndike’s LAW OF EXERCISE states that
Connections are strengthened with practice and
weakened when practice is discontinued, which
reflects the adage “use it or lose it.” The
learner needs to practice what has been learned
in order to understand and remember the
learning. Practice strengthens the learning
connection; disuse weakens it. Exercise is
most meaningful and effective when a skill is
learned within the context of a real world
application.
 This tells us that the more an S-R
(Stimulus-Response) bond is practiced
the stronger it will become. “Practice
makes perfect” seems to be associated
with this. However, like the law of
effect, the law of exercise also had to be
revised when Thorndike found that
practice without feedback does not
necessary enhanced performance
LAW OF READINESS
 This states that the more readiness the
learner has to respond to the stimulus, the
stronger will be the bond between them.
 When a person is ready to respond to the
stimulus and not made to respond, it
becomes annoying to the person.
 For example, if the teacher say, “Okay we will now watch a
movie (Stimulus) you’ve been waiting for.” And suddenly the
power goes off. The student will feel frustrated because they
were ready to respond to the stimulus but was prevented from
doing it.
 Likewise, if the person is not at all
ready to respond, that also becomes
annoying. For instance, the teacher calls
a student to stand up and recite. And
then the teacher ask the question and
expects the student to respond right
away then he is still not ready. This will
be annoying to the student. That is why
teacher should remember to say the
question first. And wait for the few
second before calling on anyone to
answer.
PRINCIPLES DERIVED FRON
THORNDIKE’S CONNECTIONISM
 Learning requires both practice and rewards(Laws of
Effect/Exercise
 A series of S-R connections can be chained together if
they belong to the same action sequence (Law of
Readiness)
 Transfer of learning occurs because of previously
encountered situation
 Intelligence is a function of the number of connections
learned.
THORNDIKE’S OTHER LAWS OF
LEARNING
 Law of Multiple – Response

 According to it the organism varies or changes its response till an

appropriate behaviour is hit upon. Without varying the responses,
the correspondence for the solution might never be elicited. If the
individual wants to solve a puzzle, he is to try in different ways
rather than mechanically persisting in the same way. Throndike’s
cat in the puzzle box moved about and tried many ways to come
out till finally it hit the latch with her paw which opened the door
and it jumped out.
 The Law of Set or Attitude-

 Learning is guided by a total set or attitude of the organism, which

determines not only what the person will do but what will satisfy or
annoy him. For instance, unless the cricketer sets himself to make a
century, he will not be able to score more runs. A student, similarly,
unless he sets to get first position and has the attitude of being at
the top, would while away the time and would not learn much.
Hence, learning is affected more in the individual if he is set to
learn more or to excel.
 Pre- potency of Elements:-

 According to this law, the learner reacts selectively to the important or

essential in the situation and neglects the other features or elements
which may be irrelevant or non- essential. The ability to deal with the
essential or the relevant part of the situation, makes analytical and
insightful learning possible. In this law of pre-potency of elements,
Thorndike is really anticipating insight in learning which was more
emphasized by the Gestaltions.
 Law of Response by Analogy-

 According to this law, the individual makes use of old experiences or

acquisitions while learning a new situation. There is a tendency to
utilise common elements in the new situation as existed in a similar
past situation. The learning of driving a car, for instance, is
facilitated by the earlier acquired skill of driving a motor cycle or
even riding a bicycle because the perspective or maintaining a
balance and controlling the handle helps in stearing the car.
 The Law of Associative Shifting-
 According to this law we may get a response, of which a learner is
capable, associated with any other situation to which he is sensitive.
Thorndike illustrated this by the act of teaching a cat to stand up at a
command. A fish was dangled before the cat while he said ‘ stand up’.
After a number trails by presenting the fish after uttering the
command ‘stand up’, he later ousted the fish and the over all
command of ‘stand up’ was found sufficient to evoke the response in
the cat by standing up or her hind legs.