Thorndike's Theory of Learning (Edward Thorndike) 
Thorndike's Theory
Thorndike's theory is called Connectionism, as he sees that the learning process is the outcome of the link between the stimulus and the response which is strengthened and weakened according to the strength of this link
Cat Maze box
Thorndike brought a hungry cat and an iron box which can only be opened by pulling a string that the animal has to pull to open the door and be able to get out. Thorndike put food outside the box to urge the cat to come out and get food
The cat was finally able to get out after several failed attempts, and Thorndike was bringing the cat back to the box to repeat the same process and get out of the box. Then returned it again to the box and so on. He charted the evolution of the cat's performance, which improved after 117 attempts over a week, decreasing the time it takes the cat to open the box
Trial and Error Theory
Thorndike extracted several conditions for the success of the cat's learning process from his experience, including
Learning by trial and error is ascending, where the cat’s performance improved after several failed attempts. As shown in the graph, its first attempts took a long time, while in the last attempts the performance improved and the cat opened the door in a very short time
As soon as the cat entered the box, it started random attempts looking for a way out. Since its first attempts to get out of the box are random, it began by discovering the box then trying several ways to open the door before it succeeded in opening it with the string
The animal finally learnt -after several attempts- the correct way to open the box directly without making other random attempts and thus open it in a short time. As the cat after Thorndike had put it again in the box and after its first successful attempt, would not pull the string directly but started random attempts again, the animal did not know that the string is the solution through its first successful try. But, after dozens of times and by repeating the process each time, the animal transmited the solution and when Thorndike returned the cat to the box for the seventieth or hundredth time, it will pull the string directly
The cat's first successful attempt to open the door came by chance. The cat did not know that the string will open the door, it just tried all ways, including the string that opened the door for it
In order to learn, there must be an incentive, as the stimulant was the food that the cat could see through the openings of the box. And this is an important condition because the cat may not want to get out of the box if there were no incentive and goal to get out, as if the box was without openings which made it able to see food
Laws of Learning
Through the experiment of the cat's maze box, Thorndike deduced laws of learning and these laws are the basis of human learning processes also in school
Law of Readiness: This law means that learning occurs only if the learner is prepared and has willingness to learn. The cat would not initiate any attempt to get out of the box if it were not interested and ready to do so, as if it were not hungry in this case the food would not act as motivation for it to get out of the box, and the link between the stimulus and the response does not exist
Law of Effect: It means that the process accompanied by satiation will be repeated, when the hungry cat got food after opening the box, it would certainly repeat the same process in order to get food again. But if there were no food, it may not open the box, and therefore to complete the process there must be a stimulus (food) to strengthen the connection between the stimulus that is the food in the case of the cat and the response which is the attempt to open the box and get out
This is exactly what we see in the circus, the animal gets a reward from trainers whenever it succeeds in carrying out a task assigned to it. It is a small piece of food that acts as a motivator for the animal to continue to do the same performance in every show
Law of Exercise: Continuous exercise of the same work leads to the strengthening of the link between the stimulus and the response. Of course the stimulus is the food and the response is opening the box, meaning that the cat will learn by continuous repetition. However, neglecting for a period of time may weaken this link between the stimulus and the response and the cat will not be able to open the box if it does not continue the process for a long period of time
Applying Laws of Learning on Humans
We all might think whether laws of learning would be applied on humans too, and that is certainly true. Students at school would not achieve anything if there were no willingness on their part and a stimulus to make them engage in the learning process (law of readiness). If we consider that a student studies a specialization and he sees that his studies are useless, this will affect his learning process, so the teacher is required to prepare the lesson in a way that attracts the students ‘ attention and makes them ready to learn, and gives them a goal for learning
Students who get rewards for learning will work harder next time. The reward may be good grades, kind words, encouragement or praise from the teacher, or any form of gratification that leads to repetition in order to get more rewards (law of effect). The reward might be from parents, as if the father says to his son: If you succeed this year, I will buy you a motorcycle
The learning process is effective with more practice and exercise. The students will not be able to learn if the teachers do not repeat and rehearse what is asked of him. The language professor may give the students a new word or a new linguistic rule and then asks him to form three or more sentences containing this word (law of exercise). This is a very useful repetition that depends on the exercise. The very useless repetition is when the teacher asks the students to write the rule many times as it is or memorize it and this is what we see some professors do in a disastrous mistake, some of our teachers have been in good faith asking us to copy the rule several times to remember it and in fact this has nothing to do with the learning process at all. According to Thorndike's theory, the cat was exercising all the time by itself trying to open the box
