The Piaget stages of development is a blueprint that describes the stages of normal intellectual development, from infancy through adulthood. This includes thought, judgment, and knowledge. The stages were named after psychologist and developmental biologist Jean Piaget, who recorded the intellectual development and abilities of infants, children, and teens.

Piaget's four stages of intellectual (or cognitive) development are:

Sensorimotor. Birth through ages 18-24 months. Preoperational. Toddlerhood (18-24 months) through early childhood (age 7). Concrete operational. Ages 7 to 12. Formal operational. Adolescence through adulthood.

Piaget acknowledged that some children may pass through the stages at different ages than the averages noted above and that some children may show characteristics of more than one stage at a given time. But he insisted that cognitive development always follows this sequence, that stages cannot be skipped, and that each stage is marked by new intellectual abilities and a more complex understanding of the world.

Sensorimotor Stage- During the early stages, infants are only aware of what is immediately in front of them. They focus on what they see, what they are doing, and physical interactions with their immediate environment.

Because they don't yet know how things react, they're constantly experimenting with activities such as shaking or throwing things, putting things in their mouths, and learning about the world through trial and error. The later stages include goal-oriented behavior which brings about a desired result.

At about age 7 to 9 months, infants begin to realize that an object exists even if it can no longer be seen. This important milestone -- known as object permanence -- is a sign that memory is developing. 

After infants start crawling, standing, and walking, their increased physical mobility leads to increased cognitive development. Near the end of the sensorimotor stage, infants reach another important milestone -- early language development, a sign that they are developing some symbolic abilities.

 

Preoperational Stage- During this stage, young children are able to think about things symbolically. Their language use becomes more mature. They also develop memory and imagination, which allows them to understand the difference between past and future, and engage in make-believe.

But their thinking is based on intuition and still not completely logical. They cannot yet grasp more complex concepts such as cause and effect, time, and comparison.

Concrete Operational Stage- At this time, elementary-age and preadolescent children demonstrate logical, concrete reasoning. 

Children's thinking becomes less egocentric and they are increasingly aware of external events. They begin to realize that one's own thoughts and feelings are unique and may not be shared by others or may not even be part of reality. Children also develop operational thinking -- the ability to perform reversible mental actions.

During this stage, however, most children still can't tackle a problem with several variables in a systematic way.

Formal Operational Stage- Adolescents who reach this fourth stage of intellectual development are able to logically use symbols related to abstract concepts, such as algebra and science. They can think about multiple variables in systematic ways, formulate hypotheses, and consider possibilities. They also can ponder abstract relationships and concepts such as justice.

Although Piaget believed in lifelong intellectual development, he insisted that the formal operational stage is the final stage of cognitive development, and that continued intellectual development in adults depends on the accumulation of knowledge.

Erikson's Psycho-Social Theory of DevelopmentPresentation Transcript

1. • Erikson’s ‘psychosocial’ term isderived from the two source words –namely psychological or the root,‘psycho’ relating to the mind, brain,personality etc. and ‘social’ orexternal relationships andenvironment, both at the heart ofErikson’s theory.

2. • Each stage involves a psychosocialcrisis of two opposing emotionalforces. A useful term is used byErikson for these opposing forcesis ‘contrary disposition’. Each crisisstage relates to a corresponding lifestage and its inherent challenges.

3. •Erikson used the word ‘syntonic’for the first-listed ‘positive’dispositions in each crisis and‘dystonic’ for the second-listeddispositions. Erikson connectedthem with the word ‘versus’.

4. •If a stage is manage well, we carryaway a certain virtue or psychosocialstrength which will help us true the restof the stages of our lives. Successfullypassing through each crisis involve‘achieving’ a ratio or balance betweenthe two opposing dispositions thatrepresent each crisis.

5. •On the other hand, if we don’t do so well,we may develop maladaptations andmalignancies, as well as endanger all ourfuture development. A malignancy is theworse of the two, and involves too little ofthe positive and too much of the negativeaspect of the task. A maladaptation is notquite as bad and involves too much of thepositive and too little of the negative.

6. The 8 Psychosocial Stages of DevelopmentSTAGE 1 STAGE I INFANCYToo much TRUST Too much MISTRUSTMALADAPTATION Psychosocial Crisis MALIGNANCY Sensory TRUST vs. MISTRUST Withdrawal maladjustment VIRTUE HOPE

7. STAGE 2 STAGE II EARLY CHILDHOODToo much AUTONOMY Too much SHAME Psychosocial Crisis MALADAPTATION MALIGNANCY AUTONOMY vs. SHAME Impulsiveness Compulsiveness and DOUBT VIRTUE DETERMINATION

8. STAGE 3 STAGE III EARLY CHILDHOODToo much INITIATIVE Too much GUILT MALADAPTATION Psychosocial Crisis MALIGNANCY Ruthlessness INITIATIVE vs. GUILT Inhibition VIRTUE COURAGE

9. STAGE 4 STAGE IV SCHOOL-AGE STAGEToo much INDUSTRY Too much INFERIORITY Psychosocial Crisis MALADAPTATION MALIGNANCY INDUSTRY vs. Virtuosity Inertia INFERIORITY VIRTUE COMPETENCY

10. STAGE 5 STAGE V ADOLESCENCEToo much EGO IDENTITY Too much ROLE CONFUSION Psychosocial Crisis MALADAPTATION MALIGNANCY EGO IDENTITY vs. ROLE Fanaticism Repudiation CONFUSION VIRTUE FIDELITY

11. STAGE 6 STAGE VI YOUNG ADULTHOODToo much INTIMACY Too much ISOLATION MALADAPTATION Psychosocial Crisis MALIGNANCY Promiscuity INTIMACY vs. Exclusion ISOLATION VIRTUE LOVE

12. STAGE 7 STAGE VII MIDDLE ADULTHOODToo much GENERATIVITY Too much STAGNATION MALADAPTATION Psychosocial Crisis MALIGNANCY Over Extension GENERATIVITY vs. Rejectivity STAGNATION VIRTUE CARE

13. STAGE 8 STAGE VIII LATE ADULTHOODToo much INTEGRITY Too much DESPAIR MALADAPTATION Psychosocial Crisis MALIGNANCY Presumption INTEGRITY vs. DESPAIR Disdain VIRTUE WISDOM

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of human learning describes learning as a social process and the origination of human intelligence in society or culture. The major theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky believed everything is learned on two levels.  First, through interaction with others, and then integrated into the individual’s mental structure.

Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals. (Vygotsky, 1978, p.57)

A second aspect of Vygotsky’s theory is the idea that the potential for cognitive development is limited to a "zone of proximal development" (ZPD). This "zone" is the area of exploration for which the student is cognitively prepared, but requires help and social interaction to fully develop (Briner, 1999). A teacher or more experienced peer is able to provide the learner with "scaffolding" to support the student’s evolving understanding of knowledge domains or development of complex skills. Collaborative learning, discourse, modelling, and scaffolding are strategies for supporting the intellectual knowledge and skills of learners and facilitating intentional learning.

The implications of Vygotsky theory are that learners should be provided with socially rich environments in which to explore knowledge domains with their fellow students, teachers and outside experts. ICTs can be used to support the learning environment by providing tools for discourse, discussions, collaborative writing, and problem-solving, and by providing online support systems to scaffold students’ evolving understanding and cognitive growth. 

 KOHLBERG'S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT Lawrence Kohlberg was a moral philosopher and student of child development. He was director of Harvard's Center for Moral Education. His special area of interest is the moral development of children - how they develop a sense of right, wrong, and justice. Kohlberg observed that growing children advance through definite stages of moral development in a manner similar to their progression through Piaget's well-known stages of cognitive development. His observations and testing of children and adults, led him to theorize that human beings progress consecutively from one stage to the next in an invariant sequence, not skipping any stage or going back to any previous stage. These are stages of thought

processing, implying qualitatively different modes of thinking and of problem solving at each stage. These conclusions have been verified in cross-cultural studies done in Turkey, Taiwan, Yucatan, Honduras, India, United States, Canada, Britain, and Israel. An outline of these developmental stages follows: A. PREMORAL OR PRECONVENTIONAL STAGES:                FOCUS: Self            AGES: Up to 10-13 years of age, most prisoners            Behavior motivated by anticipation of pleasure or pain.             STAGE 1: PUNISHMENT AND OBEDIENCE:  Might Makes Right                     Avoidance of physical punishment and deference to power. Punishment is an  automatic            response of physical retaliation. The immediate physical consequences of an action            determine its goodness or badness. The atrocities carried out by soldiers during the            holocaust who were simply "carrying out orders" under threat of punishment, illustrate that            adults as well as children may function at stage one level. "Might makes right."             QUESTIONS: What must I do to avoid punishment? What can I do to force my will upon                                    others?             STAGE 2: INSTRUMENTAL EXCHANGE:  The Egoist                       Marketplace exchange of favors or blows. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." Justice            is: "Do             unto others as they do unto you." Individual does what is necessary, makes            concessions only as necessary to satisfy his own desires. Right action consists of what            instrumentally satisfies one's own needs. Vengeance is considered a moral duty. People            are valued in terms of their utility. "An eye for an eye."             QUESTIONS: What's in it for me? What must I do to avoid pain, gain pleasure? B. CONVENTIONAL MORALITY:             FOCUS: Significant Others, "Tyranny of the They" (They say….)            AGES: Beginning in middle school, up to middle age - most people end up here            Acceptance of the rules and standards of one's group.              STAGE 3: INTERPERSONAL (TRIBAL) CONFORMITY:  Good Boy/Good Girl             Right is conformity to the stereotypical behavioral, values expectations of one's society or            peers. Individual acts to gain approval of others. Good behavior is that which pleases or            helps others within the group. Everybody is doing it." Majority understanding ("common

            sense") is seen as "natural." One earns approval by being conventionally "respectable" and            "nice." Peer pressure makes being different the unforgivable sin. Self sacrifice to group            demands is expected. Values based in conformity, loyalty to group. Sin is a breach of  the            expectations of one's immediate social order (confuses sin with group, class norms).            Retribution, however, at this stage is collective. Individual  vengeance is not allowed.            Forgiveness is preferable to revenge. Punishment is mainly for deterrence. Failure to            punish is "unfair." "If he can get away with it, why can't I?" Many religious people end up

here.             QUESTION: What must I do to be seen as a good boy/girl (socially acceptable)?             STAGE 4: LAW AND ORDER (SOCIETAL CONFORMITY): The Good Citizen              Respect for fixed rules, laws and properly constituted authority. Defense of the given social            and institutional order for its own sake. Responsibility toward the welfare of others in the            society. "Justice" normally refers to criminal justice. Justice demands that the wrongdoer            be punished, that he "pay his debt to society," and that law abiders be rewarded. "A good            day's pay for a good day's work." Injustice is failing to reward work or punish demerit. Right            behavior consists of maintaining the social order for its own sake. Self-sacrifice to larger            social order is expected. Authority figures are seldom questioned. "He must be right. He's            the Pope (or the President, or the Judge, or God)." Consistency and precedent must be            maintained. For most adults, this is the highest stage they will attain.             QUESTION: What if everyone did that?             STAGE 4 ½: The Cynic             Between the conventional stages and the post-conventional Levels 5 and 6, there is a            transitional stage. Some college-age students who come to see conventional morality as            socially constructed, thus, relative and arbitrary, but have not yet discovered universal            ethical principles, may drop into a hedonistic ethic of "do your own thing." This was well            noted in the hippie culture of the l960's. Disrespect for conventional morality was especially            infuriating to the Stage 4 mentality, and indeed was calculated to be so. Kohlberg found            that some people get "stuck" in this in-between stage marked by egoism and skepticism,            never able to completely leave behind conventional reasoning even after recognizing its            inadequacies. Such people are often marked by uncritical cynicism ("All politicians are            crooks…nothing really matters anyway"), disillusionment and alienation.

                       QUESTION: Why should I believe anything? C. POSTCONVENTIONAL OR PRINCIPLED MORALITY:             FOCUS: Justice, Dignity for all life, Common Good            AGES: Few reach this stage, most not prior to middle age

             STAGE 5: PRIOR RIGHTS AND SOCIAL CONTRACT: The Philosopher/King             Moral action in a specific situation is not defined by reference to a checklist of rules, but            from logical application of universal, abstract, moral principles. Individuals have natural or            inalienable rights and liberties that are prior to society and must be protected by society.            Retributive justice is repudiated as counterproductive, violative of notions of human rights.             Justice distributed proportionate to circumstances and need. "Situation ethics." The            statement, "Justice demands punishment," which is a self-evident truism to the Stage 4            mind, is just as self-evidently nonsense at Stage 5. Retributive punishment is neither            rational nor just, because it does not promote the rights and welfare of the individual and            inflicts further violence upon society. Only legal sanctions that fulfill that purpose are            imposed-- protection of future victims, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Individual acts out of            mutual obligation and a sense of public good. Right action tends to be defined in terms of            general individual rights, and in terms of standards that have been critically examined and            agreed upon by the whole society--e.g. the Constitution. The freedom of the individual            should be limited by society only when it infringes upon someone else's freedom.            Conventional authorities are increasingly rejected in favor of critical reasoning. Laws are            challenged by questions of justice.             QUESTIONS: What is the just thing to do given all the circumstances? What will bring the                                    most good to the largest number of people?

              STAGE 6: UNIVERSAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLES:  The Prophet/Messiah                       An individual who reaches this stage acts out of universal principles based upon the            equality and worth of all living beings. Persons are never means to an end, but are ends in            themselves. Having rights means more than individual liberties. It means that every            individual is due consideration of his dignity interests in every situation, those interests            being of equal importance with one's own. This is the "Golden Rule" model. A list of rules            inscribed in stone is no longer necessary. At this level, God  is understood to say what is            right because it is right; His sayings are not right, just because it is God who said them.            Abstract principles are the basis for moral decision making, not concrete rules. Stage            6 individuals are rare, often value their principles more than their own life, often seen as            incarnating the highest human potential. Thus they are often martyred by those of lower            stages shamed by seeing realized human potential compared with their own partially            realized levels of development. (Stoning the prophets, killing the messenger). Examples:            Mohandas Gandhi, Jesus of Nazareth, Gautamo Buddha, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dag            Hamerskjold

 QUESTIONS: What will foster life in its fullest for all living beings? What is justice for all?

 

 THE FOLLOWING ARE OBSERVATIONS THAT WERE MADE BY KOHLBERG  FURTHER EXPLAINING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN STAGES. 1. STAGE DEVELOPMENT IS INVARIANT AND SEQUENTIAL. One must progress through the stages in order, and one cannot get to a higher  stage without passing through the stage immediately preceding it.Higher stages incorporate the thinking and experience of all lower stages of reasoning into current levels of reasoning but transcends them for higher levels. (e.g, Stage Four reasoning will understand the reasoning of Stages 1-3 but will reason at a higher level) A belief that a leap into moral maturity is possible is in sharp contrast to the facts of developmental research. Moral development is growth, and like all growth, takes place according to a pre-determined sequence. To expect someone to grow into high moral maturity overnight would be like expecting someone to walk before he crawls. 2. IN STAGE DEVELOPMENT, SUBJECTS CANNOT COMPREHEND MORAL REASONING AT A STAGE MORE THAN ONE STAGE BEYOND THEIR OWN. If Johnny is oriented to see good almost exclusively as that which brings him satisfaction, how will he understand a concept of good in which the "good" may bring him no tangible pleasure at all. The moral maxim "It is better to give than to receive" reflects a high level of development. The child who honestly asks you why it is better to give than to receive, does so because he does not and cannot understand such thinking. To him, "better" means better for him. And how can it be better for him to give, than to get. Thus, higher stages can comprehend lower stages of reasoning though they find it less compelling. But lower stages cannot comprehend higher stages of reasoning. 3. IN STAGE DEVELOPMENT INDIVIDUALS ARE COGNITIVELY ATTRACTED TO REASONING ONE LEVEL ABOVE THEIR OWNPRESENT PREDOMINANT LEVEL. The person has questions and problems the solutions for which are less satisfying at his present level. Since reasoning at one stage higher is intelligible and since it makes more sense and resolves more difficulties, it is more attractive. For example, two brothers both want the last piece of pie. The bigger, stronger brother will probably get it. The little brother suggests they share it. He is thinking at level two, rather than at level one. The solution for him is more attractive: getting some rather than none. An adult who functions at level one consistently will end up in prison or dead. 4. IN STAGE DEVELOPMENT, MOVEMENT THROUGH THE STAGES IS EFFECTED WHEN COGNITIVE DISEQUILIBRIUM IS CREATED, THAT IS, WHEN A PERSON'S COGNITIVE OUTLOOK IS NOT ADEQUATE TO COPE WITH A GIVEN MORAL DILEMMA. The person who is growing, will look for more and more adequate ways of solving problems. If he has no problems, no dilemmas, he is not likely to look for solutions. He will not grow morally. (The Hero, prior to his calling, lives in comfortable stagnation. Small towns are notorious for their low level "provincial" reasoning). In the apple pie example. The big brother, who can just take the pie and get away with it, is less likely to look for a better solution than the younger brother who will get none and probably a beating in the struggle. Life crises often present opportunities for moral development. These include loss of one's job, moving to another location, death of a significant other, unforeseen tragedies and disasters. 

5. IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE FOR A HUMAN BEING TO BE PHYSICALLY MATURE BUT NOT            MORALLY MATURE Development of moral reasoning is not automatic. It does not simply occur in tandem with chronological aging. If a child is spoiled, never having to accommodate for others needs, if he is raised in an environment where level two thinking by others gets the job done, he may never generate enough questions to propel him to a higher level of moral reasoning. People who live in small towns or enclaves within larger cities and never encounter those outside their tribal boundaries are unlikely to have cause to develop morally. One key factor in development of moral reasoning is the regularity with which one encounters moral dilemmas, even if only hypothetically. Kohlberg found that the vast majority of adults never develop past conventional moral reasoning, the bulk of them coming to rest in either Stage 3 Tribal or Stage 4 Social Conventional stages. This is partly because the reinforcement mechanisms of the "common sense" of everyday life provided little reason or opportunity to confront moral dilemmas and thus one's own moral reasoning

Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is probably the most well known theorist when it comes to the development

of personality. Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development are, like other stage theories, completed in a predetermined sequence and can result in either successful completion or a healthy personality or can result in failure, leading to an unhealthy personality. This theory is probably the most well known as well as the most controversial, as Freud believed that we develop through stages based upon a particular erogenous zone. During each stage, an unsuccessful completion means that a child becomes fixated on that particular erogenous zone and either over– or under-indulges once he or she becomes an adult.

Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months). During the oral stage, the child if focused on oral pleasures (sucking). Too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral activities. This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, over eat, or bite his or her nails. Personality wise, these individuals may become overly dependent upon others, gullible, and perpetual followers. On the other hand, they may also fight these urges and develop pessimism and aggression toward others.

Anal Stage (18 months to three years). The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is on eliminating and retaining feces. Through society’s pressure, mainly via parents, the child has to learn to control anal stimulation. In terms of personality, after effects of an anal fixation during this stage can result in an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control (anal retentive). On the opposite end of the spectrum, they may become messy and disorganized (anal expulsive).

Phallic Stage (ages three to six). The pleasure zone switches to the genitals. Freud believed that during this stage boy develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother. Because of this, he becomes rivals with his father and sees him as competition for the mother’s affection. During this time, boys also develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by castrating them. This group of feelings is known as Oedipus Complex ( after the Greek Mythology figure who accidentally killed his father and married his mother).

Later it was added that girls go through a similar situation, developing unconscious sexual attraction to their father. Although Freud Strongly disagreed with this, it has been termed the Electra Complex by more recent psychoanalysts.

According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong competition of his father, boys eventually decide to identify with him rather than fight him. By identifying with his father, the boy develops masculine characteristics and identifies himself as a male, and represses his sexual feelings toward his mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysts. 

Latency Stage (age six to puberty). It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed and children interact and play mostly with same sex peers. 

Genital Stage (puberty on). The final stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened. Through the lessons learned during the previous stages, adolescents direct their sexual urges onto opposite sex peers, with the primary focus of pleasure is the genitals. 

CONNECTIONISM (EDWARD L. THORNDIKE – 1898)

The prominent role of Aristotle’s laws of association in the 1900s may largely be due to the work

of Edward L. Thorndike—the recognized founder of a “learning theory [that] dominated all others

in America” for “nearly half a century” (Bower & Hilgard, 1981, p. 21).  Thorndike’s theory was

based initially on a series of puzzle box experiments that he used to plot learning curves of

animals. In these experiments learning was defined as a function of the amount of time required

for the animal to escape from the box. A full account of his experiments, including detailed

descriptions of the puzzle boxes he used and examples of learning curves that were plotted, can

be found in Animal intelligence (Thorndike, 1898).

In Thorndike’s view, learning is the process of forming associations or bonds, which he defined as

“the connection of a certain act with a certain situation and resultant pleasure” (p. 8). His work

leading up to 1898 provided “the beginning of an exact estimate of just what associations, simple

and compound, an animal can form, how quickly he forms them, and how long he retains them”

(p. 108).

Although his original experimental subjects were cats, dogs, and chicks, Thorndike clearly

expressed his intention of applying his work to human learning when he said, “the main purpose

of the study of the animal mind is to learn the development of mental life down through the

phylum, to trace in particular the origin of human faculty” (1898, p. 2). From his work with

animals he inferred “as necessary steps in the evolution of human faculty, a vast increase in the

number of associations” (p. 108).  A decade and a half later he expanded on the theme of human

learning in a three volume series entitled, Educational psychology, with volume titles, The

original nature of man (1913a), The psychology of learning (1913b), and Mental work and fatigue

and individual differences and their causes (1914b). The material in these books was very

comprehensive and targeted advanced students of psychology. He summarized the fundamental

subject matter of the three volumes in a single, shorter textbook entitled, Educational

psychology: briefer course (Thorndike, 1914a). In these volumes Thorndike provided a formative

culmination of his theory of learning in the form of three laws of learning:

1. Law of Readiness – The law of readiness was intended to account for the motivational aspects

of learning and was tightly coupled to the language of the science of neurology. It was defined in

terms of the conduction unit, which term Thorndike (1914a) used to refer to “the neuron,

neurons, synapse, synapses, part of a neuron, part of a synapse, parts of neurons or parts of

synapses—whatever makes up the path which is ready for conduction” (p. 54). In its most

concise form, the law of readiness was stated as follows, “for a conduction unit ready to conduct

to do so is satisfying, and for it not to do so is annoying” (p. 54). The law of readiness is

illustrated through two intuitive examples given by Thorndike:

The sight of the prey makes the animal run after it, and also puts the conductions and

connections involved in jumping upon it when near into a state of excitability or readiness to be

made….When a child sees an attractive object at a distance, his neurons may be said to

prophetically prepare for the whole series of fixating it with the eyes, running toward it, seeing it

within reach, grasping, feeling it in his hand, and curiously manipulating it. (p. 53)

2. Law of Exercise – The law of exercise had two parts: (a) the law of use and (b) the law of

disuse. This law stated that connections grow stronger when used—where strength is defined as

“vigor and duration as well as the frequency of its making” (p. 70)—and grow weaker when not

used.

3. Law of Effect – The law of effect added to the law of exercise the notion that connections are

strengthened only when the making of the connection results in a satisfying state of affairs and

that they are weakened when the result is an annoying state of affairs.

These three laws were supplemented by five characteristics of learning “secondary in scope and

importance only to the laws of readiness, exercise, and effect” . They are

1. Multiple response or varied reaction – When faced with a problem an animal will try one

response after another until it finds success.

2. Set or attitude – The responses that an animal will try, and the results that it will find

satisfying, depend largely on the animal’s attitude or state at the time.

The chick, according to his age, hunger, vitality, sleepiness, and the like, may be in one or

another attitude toward the external situation. A sleepier and less hungry chick will, as a rule, be

‘set’ less toward escape-movements when confined; its neurons involved in roaming, perceiving

companions and feeding will be less ready to act; it will not, in popular language, ‘try so hard to’

get out or ‘care so much about’ being out

3. Partial activity or prepotency of elements – Certain features of a situation may be prepotent in

determining a response than others and an animal is able to attend to critical elements and

ignore less important ones. This ability to attend to parts of a situation makes possible response

by analogy and learning through insight.

Similarly, a cat that has learned to get out of a dozen boxes—in each case by pulling some loop,

turning some bar, depressing a platform, or the like—will, in a new box, be, as we say, ‘more

attentive to’ small objects on the sides of the box than it was before. The connections made may

then be, not absolutely with the gross situation as a total, but predominantly with some element

or elements of it.

4. Assimilation – Due to the assimilation of analogous elements between two stimuli, an animal

will respond to a novel stimulus in the way it has previously responded to a similar stimulus. In

Thorndike’s words, “To any situations, which have no special original or acquired response of

their own, the response made will be that which by original or acquired nature is connected with

some situation which they resemble.” (Thorndike, 1914a, p. 135)

5. Associative shifting – Associative shifting refers to the transfer of a response evoked by a given

stimulus to an entirely different stimulus.

The ordinary animal ‘tricks’ in response to verbal signals are convenient illustrations. One, for

example, holds up before a cat a bit of fish, saying, “Stand up.” The cat, if hungry enough, and

not of fixed contrary habit, will stand up in response to the fish. The response, however, contracts

bonds also with the total situation, and hence to the human being in that position giving that

signal as well as to the fish. After enough trials, by proper arrangement, the fish can be omitted,

the other elements of the situation serving to evoke the response. Association may later be

further shifted to the oral signal alone. (Thorndike, 1914a, p. 136)

Sixteen years after publishing his theory in the Educational Psychology series based on

experiments with animals, Thorndike published twelve lectures that reported on experiments

performed with human subjects between 1927 and 1930 (see Thorndike, 1931). The results of

these experiments led Thorndike to make some modifications to his laws of connectionism.

The first change was to qualify the law of exercise. It was shown that the law of exercise, in and

of itself, does not cause learning, but is dependent upon the law of effect. In an experiment in

which subjects were blindfolded and repeatedly asked to draw a four-inch line with one quick

movement Thorndike discovered that doing so 3,000 times “caused no learning” because the

lines drawn in the eleventh or twelfth sittings were “not demonstrably better than or different

from those drawn in the first or second” (Thorndike, 1931, p. 10). He summarized this finding by

saying,

Our question is whether the mere repetition of a situation in and of itself causes learning, and in

particular whether the more frequent connections tend, just because they are more frequent, to

wax in strength at the expense of the less frequent. Our answer is No. (p. 13)

However, in drawing this conclusion, Thorndike was not disproving the law of exercise, but

merely qualifying it (by saying that repetition must be guided by feedback):

It will be understood, of course, that repetition of a situation is ordinarily followed by learning,

because ordinarily we reward certain of the connections leading from it and punish others by

calling the responses to which they respectively lead right or wrong, or by otherwise favoring and

thwarting them. Had I opened my eyes after each shove of the pencil during the second and later

sittings and measured the lines and been desirous of accuracy in the task, the connections

leading to 3.8, 3.9, 4.0, 4.1, and 4.2 would have become more frequent until I reached my limit of

skill in the task. (p. 12-13)

The second change was to recast the relative importance of reward and punishment under the

law of effect. Through a variety of experiments Thorndike concluded that satisfiers (reward) and

annoyers (punishment) are not equal in their power to strengthen or weaken a connection,

respectively. In one of these experiments students learned Spanish vocabulary by selecting for

each Spanish word one of five possible English meanings followed by the rewarding feedback of 

being told “Right” or the punishing feedback of being told “Wrong.” From the results of this

experiment Thorndike concluded that punishment does not diminish response as originally stated

in the law of effect. In his own words,

Indeed the announcement of “Wrong” in our experiments does not weaken the connection at all,

so far as we can see. Rather there is more gain in strength from the occurrence of the response

than there is weakening by the attachment of “Wrong” to it. Whereas two occurrences of a right

response followed by “Right” strengthen the connection much more than one does, two

occurrences of a wrong response followed by “Wrong” weaken that connection less than one

does. (p. 45)

In another experiment a series of words were read by the experimenter. The subject responded

to each by stating a number between 1 and 10. If the subject picked the number the

experimenter had predetermined to be “right” he was rewarded (the experimenter said “Right”),

otherwise he was punished (the experimenter said “Wrong”). Other than the feedback received

from the experimenter, the subject had no logical basis for selecting one number over another

when choosing a response. Each series was repeated many times, however, the sequence of

words was long, making it difficult for the subject to consciously remember any specific right and

wrong word-number pairs. From the results of this and other similar experiments Thorndike

demonstrated what he called the “spread of effect.” What he meant by this was that “punished

connections do not behave alike, but that the ones that are nearest to a reward are

strengthened” and that “the strengthening influence of a reward spreads to influence positively

not only the connection which it directly follows…but also any connections which are near

enough to it” (Thorndike, 1933, p. 174).  More specifically,

A satisfying after-effect strengthens greatly the connection which it follows directly and to which

it belongs, and also strengthens by a smaller amount the connections preceding and following

that, and by a still smaller amount the preceding and succeeding connections two steps

removed. (p. 174)

In addition to these two major changes to the law of exercise and the law of effect, Thorndike

also began to explore four other factors of learning that might be viewed as precursors to

cognitive learning research, which emerged in the decades that followed. They are summarized

by Bower and Hilgard (1981):

1. Belongingness – “a connection between two units or ideas is more readily established if

the subject perceives the two as belonging or going together” (p. 35).

2. Associative Polarity – “connections act more easily in the direction in which they were

formed than in the opposite direction” (p. 35). For example, if when learning German

vocabulary a person always tests themselves in the German-to-English direction it is more

difficult for them to give the German equivalent when prompted with an English word

than to give the English word when prompted with the German equivalent.

3. Stimulus Identifiability – “a situation is easy to connect to a response to the extent that

the situation is identifiable, distinctive, and distinguishable from others in a learning

series” (p. 36).

4. Response Availability – the ease of forming connections is directly proportional to the

ease with which the response required by the situation is summoned or executed:

Some responses are over learned as familiar acts (e.g., touching our nose, tapping our toes)

which are readily executed upon command, whereas more finely skilled movements (e.g.,

drawing a line 4 inches as opposed to 5 inches long while blindfolded) may not be so readily

summonable. (p.36-37)