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William James
William James was an American psychologist and philosopher. He was an original thinker in physiology, psychology and philosophy. James was a pragmatist. He defined true beliefs as those that prove useful to the believer. These 'truths' are confirmed by the observed results putting them into practice. -
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G. Stanley Hall
Granville Stanley Hall was a pioneering American psychologist and educator. His interests focused on childhood development and evolutionary theory. He was instrumental in the development of educational psychology, and attempted to determine the effect adolescence has on education. -
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John Dewey
John Deweywas an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He is regarded as one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century. He was for what we would call today the development of thinking skills and against the attainment of decontextualized, inert forms of knowledge. In the fullest functionalist tradition, he said that knowledge was
a tool, not an end in itself. -
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Edward Lee Thorndike
Edward Lee Thorndike 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 the theory of connectionism and helped lay the scientific foundation for educational psychology.He gave us the first standardized achievement test and developed intelligence tests and compiled dictionaries, as well. -
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Thorndike: Eugenic views
Thorndike was a proponent of eugenics. He argued that "selective breeding can alter man's capacity to learn, to keep sane, to cherish justice or to be happy. There is no more certain and economical a way to improve man's environment as to improve his nature." -
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B.F. Skinner
Coined the term operant conditioning to describe behaviors modified by consequences. Mothod used; Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, extinction. -
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Benjamin Bloom
Published "Taxonomy of Educational objectives: The classification of educational goals" which set in place learning objectives. -
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Thorndike: Adult learning
Thorndike identified the three main areas of intellectual development. The first being abstract intelligence. This is the ability to process and understand different concepts. The second is mechanical intelligence, which is the ability to handle physical objects. Lastly there is social intelligence. This is the ability to handle human interaction[ -
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Edward Lee Thorndike
Thorndike's work on motivation and attitude formation directly affected studies on human nature as well as social order. Thorndike's research drove comparative psychology for fifty years, and influenced countless psychologists over that period of time, and even still today.