Donahoe, J. W. (1999).
Edward L. Thorndike: The selectionist connectionist.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
72, 451-454.
From the very outset of his work, Thorndike allied himself with
the Darwinian proposition that complex phenomena can arise as the
cumulative effects of a selection process, here the process
envisioned by the law of effect. Thorndike's selectionist
approach, when combined with his connectionism, laid the
foundation for a synthesis of behavior analysis and neuroscience.
Key words: E. L. Thorndike, selectionism, connectionism,
response-outcome associations