Learning New Skills: Thorndike's Puzzle Boxes

Introduction to Thorndike's Research

• Fascination with how new skills are learned
• Developed methods to study learning processes in animals

Puzzle Box Experiment with Cats

• Purpose: To determine how animals learn new skills
• Method:
  • Created puzzle boxes that required specific actions to escape
  • Used cats as subjects to test the escape mechanism

Observations and Findings

• Cats initially appeared clever in escaping but were not solving problems with understanding
• Successful escape actions occurred by chance rather than insight

Trial and Error Learning

• Thorndike observed that learning happened through trial and error
• Cats learned which actions led to escape and food rewards over time
• Used graphs to measure and analyze the rate of learning

Law of Effect

• Thorndike's key contribution to understanding learning
• Principle:
  • Actions followed by rewards become more likely to occur again
  • Behavior is shaped by its consequences
  • Explains development of new habits in animals, even in wild creatures

Conclusion

• Thorndike's experiments provided insight into the learning process
• Demonstrated the importance of consequences in shaping behavior
• Pioneered ideas that influenced future research in psychology and learning