The Law of Effect

Thorndike's Law of Effect

Edward Thorndike was an American psychologist who primarily worked in the early to mid-1900s. He was heavily involved in psychology groups in the United States and even served as president of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1912! While a handful of impactful theories are attributed to Thorndike, his most prominent and famous one is the law of effect.

To begin to understand the law of effect, we first need to learn why he felt the need to theorize it in the first place.

You’ve probably heard of classical conditioning.

Note the most important word of that sentence – reflexes. Classical conditioning only works on completely reflexive behaviors, meaning that the learner is learning unconsciously to repeat the behavior.

This distinction is where Thorndike had an issue with the concept of classical conditioning. He thought that the learner could take an active role in their conditioning. Classical conditioning first rose to prominence with Ivan Pavlov in 1897 and was widely accepted and known by the psychological community when Thorndike began to postulate about the law of effect.

Law of Effect Definition

Throughout his studies, Thorndike spent most of his time dedicated to understanding learning – how we learn, why we learn, and what causes us to learn faster. This emphasis on learning combined with his desire to build a newer theory of learning that could be more widely used than classical conditioning led to the development of the law of effect.

Essentially if you do something good and get praised or rewarded for your action, you’ll want to do it again. However, if you do something bad and get punished for that action, you probably won’t want to do it again. Additionally, Thorndike believed that the reward after a good behavior is a more powerful means of learning than punishment after bad behavior.

Fig. 1. Edward Thorndike. Wikimedia commons.

Now that we understand the law of effect, let’s review the experiment that solidified Thorndike’s theory.

Thorndike’s Experiment

To test his theory, Edward Thorndike put a cat in a box. No, not like Schrodinger; this cat was alive in the box the entire time. In this box was a button that opened the door to the box. If the cat didn’t press the button, the door wouldn’t open. Simple as that. However, on the other side of the box was cat food, giving the cat incentive to try to escape the box to eat the food.

When the cat was in the box for the first time, it would take him a long time to try to escape. The cat would try to (unsuccessfully) claw his way out and keep trying different methods until he stepped on the button. The next time the same cat was in the box, it would take him less time to figure out how to get out. Once there were enough trials with the same cat, as soon as the researcher put the cat in the box, the cat would immediately press the button to leave.

This example shows the law of effect. When the cat pressed the button, it was followed by a positive consequence – leaving the box and getting food. The cat was an active learner because he was piecing together that he could leave when he pressed the button. The behavior was strengthened since a positive reward followed it.

Law of Effect Example

Let’s take recreational drug use as an example of the law of effect. When you first use drugs, you get a high that Thorndike would consider a positive consequence of the behavior. Since you liked how you felt after doing the drugs, you do them again to get that same positive reward. During this experience, you are actively learning that if you do the drugs, you will get a good feeling, leading to you continuously doing drugs to keep chasing that feeling.

Of course, as we know about drugs, the more you do them, the higher your tolerance is. That means your body will need larger doses to feel that same high. Once you are addicted, you’ll keep increasing your dosage until it’s too late.

Fig. 2. Did you know coffee is a drug that you can get addicted to?

The law of effect explains the reasons why people continue to take drugs even if they know the potential negative consequences. It feels good, and if they keep taking the drugs it will keep feeling good.

You can see the law of effect in many other examples like parenting, dog training, and teaching. In all these examples, the behavior's consequences encourage the learner to repeat their behaviors.

Difference Between Operant Conditioning and Law of Effect

The law of effect and operant conditioning are very similar because operant conditioning came from the law of effect. BF Skinner, the father of operant conditioning, saw Thorndike’s law of effect and built upon it. Operant conditioning has the same core concepts as the law of effect – the learner should be active and that consequences can increase or decrease the likelihood of the learner repeating a behavior.

Skinner defined a couple more concepts than Thorndike. So what is the difference between operant conditioning and the law of effect?

Positive reinforcement is the one operant conditioning term that is most similar to the law of effect.

Fig. 3. What type of positive reinforcement would work best for you?

By understanding these basic definitions of operant conditioning, you can see how it is built upon the foundations of the law of effect.

Law of Effect Importance

The law of effect is important because of its relationship to operant conditioning. While we can look at the main theory of the law of effect and say it seems very simple – if you get a reward after doing something, you’ll probably do it again – it was the first scientific theory about this concept. It shows how important consequences are to behaviors.

Regarding operant conditioning, the law of effect set up BF Skinner to postulate one of the principal learning theories. Operant conditioning has been a crucial tool in understanding how children and adults learn behaviors. Teachers constantly use operant conditioning to teach their students how to behave and to understand that studying leads to good grades.