Animal intelligence : experimental studies / Edward L. Thorndike ; with a new introduction by Darryl Bruce.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thorndike, Edward L. (Edward Lee), 1874-1949.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Animal intelligence.

Behavior, Animal.

Intelligence.

Medical Subjects:

Behavior, Animal.

Intelligence.

Physical Description:

xx, 297 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Publishers, [2000]

Summary:

Animal Intelligence is a consolidated record of Edward L. Thorndike's theoretical and empirical contributions to the comparative psychology of learning. Thorndike's approach is systematic and comprehensive experimentation using a variety of animals and tasks, all within a laboratory setting. When this book first appeared, it set a compelling example, and helped make the study of animal behavior very much an experimental laboratory science.

This landmark study in the investigation of animal intelligence illustrates Thorndike's thinking on the evolution of the mind. It includes his formal statement of the influential law of effect, which had a significant impact on other behaviorists. Hull's law of primary reinforcement was closely related to the law of effect and Skinner acknowledged that the process of operant conditioning was probably that described in the law of effect.

The new introduction by Darryl Bruce is an in-depth study of Thorndike's legacy to comparative psychology as well as a thorough retrospective review of Animal Intelligence. He includes a biographical introduction of the behaviorist and then delves into his theories and work. Among the topics Bruce covers with respect to Thorndike's studies are the nature of animal intelligence, the laws of learning and connectionism, implications for comparative psychology, and relation to theories of other behaviorists. Animal Intelligence is an intriguing analysis that will be of importance to psychologists and animal behaviorists.

Contents:

The Study of Consciousness and the Study of Behavior 1

Animal Intelligence 20

Description of Apparatus 29

Experiments with Cats 35

Experiments with Dogs 56

Experiments with Chicks 61

Reasoning or Inference 67

Imitation 76

In Chicks 81

In Cats 85

In Dogs 92

The Mental Fact in Association 98

Association by Similarity and the Formation of Concepts 116

Criticism of Previous Theories 125

Delicacy of Association 128

Complexity of Associations 132

Number of Associations 135

Permanence of Associations 138

Inhibition of Instincts by Habit 142

Attention 144

The Social Consciousness of Animals 146

Interaction 147

Applications to Pedagogy, Anthropology, etc. 149

The Instinctive Reactions of Young Chicks 156

A Note on the Psychology of Fishes 169

The Mental Life of the Monkeys 172

Apparatus 177

Learning without Tuition 182

Tests with Mechanisms 184

Tests with Signals 195

Experiments on the Influence of Tuition 209

Imitation of Human Beings 211

Imitation of Other Monkeys 219

Learning apart from Motor Impulses 222

General Mental Development of the Monkeys 236

Laws and Hypotheses of Behavior 241

The Evolution of the Human Intellect 282.

Notes:

Originally published: 1911.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0765804824

OCLC:

40588396