Thorndike's Puzzle Box
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Edward Thorndike placed hungry cats in enclosed puzzle boxes that opened when the animal pressed a lever or pulled a loop. At first the cats made many ineffective movements; over repeated trials the successful action came sooner and errors declined. Thorndike concluded that learning proceeds by trial and error rather than sudden insight, and formulated the Law of Effect: responses followed by satisfying consequences are strengthened, while those followed by discomfort are weakened. The work laid the foundation for operant conditioning later developed by B. F. Skinner. Key qualification: the law describes gradual strengthening, not deliberate reasoning.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Expect gradual learning: budget repetitions rather than waiting for a single insight to solve the problem. - Shape behavior: reward the response you want immediately after it occurs. - Read the curve: treat declining error rates as evidence that learning is actually happening.
Anchor fast decisions
Behavior that produces a satisfying outcome becomes more likely to recur, while behavior followed by no reward or by discomfort fades. Because the animal cannot reason out the mechanism in advance, the successful action is found by chance and then selected by its consequence. Repeated cycles gradually eliminate ineffective movements and shorten the path to reward.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Thorndikeverified
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