Thorndike, Edward L. (1874–1949)

Edward Lee Thorndike is best known as America's quintessential scientific educational theorist. His theories and empirical and quantitative research conducted in understanding animal intelligence would ultimately become foundational to the development of human educational psychology, philosophy, and policy. Of special significance in terms of reforming the way in which educators thought about human behavior was Thorndike's work on operant conditioning. His research interests varied from adult learning to intelligence tests for the U.S. military.

Born August 31, 1874, in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, Thorndike received his master's degree from Harvard University in 1897 and his doctorate of philosophy from Columbia University in 1898. Thorndike's 40-year career in the professorship was spent at Columbia University Teachers College. During that time his comprehensive contributions in understanding, measuring, and quantifying human learning and intellectual potentials helped solidify Teachers College as one of the most prestigious training institutions for educational leaders in the United States. It is believed that Thorndike did not fully receive the recognition and appreciation worthy of a scholar of his magnitude, despite his indisputable intellectual contributions. [Page 891]His detractors, primarily Progressives, viewed his scientific educational approaches (including Law and Exercise), along with other concepts in learning, as being resoundingly positivist and deterministic. Thorndike argued that heredity (race) had much to do with differentiations and limitations in learning, which further aroused harsh criticism.

Thorndike's theory of connectionism or belonging was at the core of his assertions about how individuals learn through forming connections and associations among situations, conditions, or responses in either short- or long-term sequences involving changes in connections either pleasant or unpleasant. His research revealed that individuals possess a broad range of connected intellectual capacities, which led him to conclude that testing measured only a narrow range of human intelligence. Darwinism, experimentalism, and the work of William James were substantive influences on his scholarship. Thorndike's research of, and knowledge in, the field of scientific educational psychology was encyclopedic. Therefore, only three of his notable theories are highlighted and especially because they have impacted educational activities and reform within schools throughout the United States. They include the halo effect, law of effect, and principles of learning.