All thinkers

Edward L. Thorndike: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from Edward L. Thorndike, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• One good trait convinces you a stranger must be good at everything else too

  Edward Thorndike found that when military officers rated soldiers on totally unrelated qualities — intelligence, leadership, physique — the scores were all suspiciously correlated.…

  — Edward Thorndike, A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings

• Cats trapped in a wooden box taught psychology its first law of learning

  Edward Thorndike put hungry cats in boxes they could only escape by pulling a loop or lever. Their escape times fell over repeated trials not through sudden insight but blind trial…

  — Edward L. Thorndike, Animal Intelligence: An Experimental Study of the Associative Processes in Animals

Five ideas worth knowing, every week

The week's best cards and a puzzle, credited as always. Free, unsubscribe any time.

Subscribe