PSYCHOLOGIST

Edward Thorndike

1874 - 1949

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Edward Lee Thorndike ((1874-08-31)August 31, 1874 – (1949-08-09)August 9, 1949) was an American psychologist who spent nearly his entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University. His work on comparative psychology and the learning process led to his "theory of connectionism" and helped lay the scientific foundation for educational psychology. He also worked on solving industrial problems, such as employee exams and testing. Thorndike was a member of the board of the Psychological Corporation and served as president of the American Psychological Association in 1912. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Edward Thorndike is the 24th most popular psychologist (down from 22nd in 2019), the 398th most popular biography from United States (down from 270th in 2019) and the 8th most popular American Psychologist.

Edward Thorndike is most famous for his work on learning theory and the law of effect. His theory of learning is based on the idea that learning is a process of trial and error. The law of effect states that responses that are followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated in the future.

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Among PSYCHOLOGISTS

Among psychologists, Edward Thorndike ranks 24 out of 235. Before him are Kurt Lewin, Jordan Peterson, John B. Watson, Daniel Kahneman, Irvin D. Yalom, and B. F. Skinner. After him are Melanie Klein, Wilhelm Reich, Gustav Fechner, Hermann Ebbinghaus, Aaron T. Beck, and Alfred Binet.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1874, Edward Thorndike ranks 14. Before him are Howard Carter, Johannes Stark, Max Scheler, Ernst Cassirer, Sunjong of Korea, and Chaim Weizmann. After him are Carl Bosch, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Lou Henry Hoover, Lucy Maud Montgomery, António Egas Moniz, and Gertrude Stein. Among people deceased in 1949, Edward Thorndike ranks 6. Before him are Maurice Maeterlinck, Richard Strauss, Sigrid Undset, George Gurdjieff, and Georgi Dimitrov. After him are Leonard Bloomfield, Kim Jong-suk, Margaret Mitchell, Friedrich Bergius, Hassan al-Banna, and James Ensor.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Edward Thorndike ranks 398 out of 20,380. Before him are J. D. Vance (1984), Robert Wadlow (1918), Marilyn Manson (1969), Samuel Colt (1814), Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958), and Owen Chamberlain (1920). After him are Rocky Marciano (1923), John Ford (1894), Lee Van Cleef (1925), Audie Murphy (1925), Jamie Foxx (1967), and Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (1921).

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Among PSYCHOLOGISTS In United States

Among psychologists born in United States, Edward Thorndike ranks 8. Before him are John Dewey (1859), William James (1842), Carl Rogers (1902), John B. Watson (1878), Irvin D. Yalom (1931), and B. F. Skinner (1904). After him are Aaron T. Beck (1921), Howard Gardner (1943), Gordon Allport (1897), Paul Ekman (1934), Jerome Bruner (1915), and Albert Ellis (1913).

American born Psychologists

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