4.5 Throndike’s Laws of learning
Thorndike’s Laws of Learning - Main Laws :-
1. Law of readiness - Concerning the law of readiness, Thomdike states, “When any conduction unit is ready to conduct, for it to do so is satisfying. When any conduction unit is not in readiness to conduct, for it conduct is annoying.
This law of readiness is related to practice and its effect on result. It implies that an individual can successfully perform a particular activity only when he is mentally and physically prepared to perform it. On the subject of an individual becoming prepared to perform a specific task, Thomdike writes that when an individual is ready to conduct the process of learning, the performance of the activity grants him satisfaction. But if the individual is not ready for the activity, its performance fills him with dissatisfaction.
2. Law of Effect - Thomdike elaborated his view of the law of effect in the following manner. When a variablebond is formed between a given situation and a response and this is accompanied by a state of satisfaction the connection is strengthened. In contrast, when this bond or connection is accompanied by dissatisfaction, irritation or frustration, the connection is weekended.
Thomdike held firmly to the view mat a person tends to perform that activity repeatedly which gives him pleasure or satisfaction and that he avoids activities which arouse displeasure. For his experiments on rats, Thomdike got a puzzle box constructed. In it he placed some food and a few rats. The rats naturally made attempts to find the food, and when their efforts met with success in the puzzle box, they made further efforts. Whenever they failed to get the food, they felt dissatisfaction and their activities slackened noticeably.
3. The law of exercise - This obviously implies that the activity performed repeatedly is the one which leaves a permanent impression upon the mind, implicit in the law of exercise are two sub-laws - (i) the law of use, which emphasises than fact that an individual repeats that activity which he considers useful, and (ii) the law of disuse which clarifies that, other things being equal, the connection between a situation and a response becomes weak if the activity is found be useless.
