Identical Elements Theory
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A theory of transfer proposed by Edward Thorndike, developed as a challenge to the doctrine of formal discipline. The core proposition is that transfer occurs to the extent that the training situation and the target situation share identical elements, so transfer is predictable rather than mysterious. The key qualification is that the shared elements must be genuinely similar, since expecting a general faculty such as memory to transfer automatically is not supported.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Similarity audit: compare the training setting with the setting where the skill must be used. - Element extraction: identify the specific shared elements and practice those deliberately. - Transfer forecast: predict how much will carry over from the overlap rather than from hope.
Anchor fast decisions
Skills are stored as specific associations rather than as general faculties, so a new situation retrieves only the responses that match its cues. The more cues the two situations share, the more of the learned response is triggered in the new setting. Where the overlap is thin, almost nothing transfers, no matter how well the original skill was learned.
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/Transfer_of_learningverified
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