Animal Intelligence Experimental Studies

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.

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The main purpose of this volume is to make accessible to students of psychology and biology the author’s experimental studies of animal intellect and behavior. These studies have, I am informed by teachers of comparative psychology, a twofold interest. Since they represent the first deliberate and extended application of the experimental method in animal psychology, they are a useful introduction to the later literature of that subject. They mark the change from books of general argumentation on the basis of common experience interpreted in terms of the faculty psychology, to monographs reporting detailed and often highly technical experiments interpreted in terms of original and acquired connections between situation and response. Since they represent the point of view and the method of present animal psychology, but in the case of very general and simple problems, they are useful also as readings for students who need a general acquaintance with some sample of experimental work in this field. [vi] It has seemed best to leave the texts unaltered except for the correction of typographical errors, renumbering of tables and figures, and redrawing the latter. In a few places, where the original text has been found likely to be misunderstood, brief notes have been added. It is hard to resist the impulse to temper the style, especially of the ‘Animal Intelligence,’ with a certain sobriety and restraint. What one writes at the age of twenty-three is likely to irritate oneself a dozen years later, as it doubtless irritated others at the time. The charitable reader may allay his irritation by the thought that a degree of exuberance, even of arrogance, is proper to youth. To the reports of experimental studies are added two new essays dealing with the general laws of human and animal learning. JANUARY, 1911.FROM THE BOOK

Excerpt from Animal Intelligence: Experimental Studies It has seemed best to leave the texts unaltered except for the correction of typographical errors, renumbering of tables and figures, and redrawing the latter. In a few places, where the original text has been found likely to be misunderstood, brief notes have been added. It is hard to resist the impulse to temper the style, especially of the Animal Intelligence, ' with a certain sobriety and restraint. What one writes at the age of twenty-three is likely to irritate oneself a dozen years later, as it doubt less irritated others at the time. The charitable reader may allay his irritation by the thought that a degree of exuberance, even of arrogance, is proper to youth. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.