Edward L. Thorndike
Invisible Technologies | Statistics | Polling | Stereotypical | Unreliable | Sources | Index | Conclusion
Edward Lee Thorndike, b. Williamsburg, Mass., Aug. 31, 1874,
d. Aug. 9, 1949, was a major figure in several fields of
psychology: learning theory, applied psychology, and mental
measurement. First influenced by William James at Harvard, he
studied at Columbia University and taught there from 1909 to
1940. His learning theory, applied to animals and human
beings, added the principle of effect (success, pleasure,
satisfaction) to Hermann Ebbinghaus's principle of exercise.
Thorndike rid his theories of the mentalism of earlier
psychologists and paved the way for the behaviorism of B. F.
Skinner and John B. Watson. He published about 500 books and
articles, including his thesis Animal Intelligence (1898),
Educational Psychology (1903, later in three volumes), and
Mental and Social Measurements (1904), and was president of the
American Psychological Association.
E. B. Page
Bibliography: Clifford, G. J., Edward L. Thorndike, rev.
ed. (1984); Joncich, Geraldine M., The Sane Positivist: A
Biography of Edward Lee Thorndike (1968).