From laws of learning to a science of values - Efficiency and morality in Thorndike's educational psychology.

Edward L. Thorndike's educational psychology was the beginning of an American behavioristic tradition that sought efficient, scientific solutions to educational, moral, and social problems. Thorndike used empirical methodology to explain behavior intellect, and character After rejecting developmentalism, he combined laws of learning derived from his experiments on animals with quantitative measurement of individual differences in humans to construct a psychology of education. He applied this educational psychology, commercially and developed many widely used tests and texts. Thorndike then proposed a science of values that he hoped might be used as a guide for moral assessment and social policy.