Edward Thorndike

Edward Lee Thorndike was born August 31, 1874, and spent nearly his entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University. His comparative psychology experiments led to his theory of connectionism, laying the scientific foundation for educational psychology. The law of effect - his core contribution - established that behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to recur, giving empirical shape to reinforcement theory and behavior analysis. He also applied his methods to industrial problems like employee testing. He served as president of the American Psychological Association in 1912 and sat on the board of the Psychological Corporation. A 2002 survey ranked him the ninth-most cited psychologist of the 20th century. He died August 9, 1949, having turned the puzzle box into a blueprint for the classroom.