When, instead of merely associating some act with some situation in the animal way, we think the situation out, we have a set of particular feelings of its elements. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
To the intelligent man with an interest in human nature it must often appear strange that so much of the energy of the scientific world has been spent on the study of the body and so little on the study of the mind. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
The restriction of studies of human intellect and character to studies of conscious states was not without influence on a scientific studies of animal psychology. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
The intellectual evolution of the race consists in an increase in the number, delicacy, complexity, permanence and speed of formation of such associations. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
The dog, on the other hand, has few or no ideas because his brain acts in coarse fashion and because there are few connections with each single process. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
On the whole, the psychological work of the last quarter of the nineteenth century emphasized the study of consciousness to the neglect of the total life of intellect and character. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
Human beings are accustomed to think of intellect as the power of having and controlling ideas and of ability to learn as synonymous with ability to have ideas. But learning by having ideas is really one of the rare and isolated events in nature. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
There is no reasoning, no process of inference or comparison; there is no thinking about things, no putting two and two together; there are no ideas – the animal does not think of the box or of the food or of the act he is to perform. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
The un-conscious distortion of the facts is almost harmless compared to the unconscious neglect of an animal’s mental life until it verges on the unusual and marvelous. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
It will, of course, be understood that directly or indirectly, soon or late, every advance in the sciences of human nature will contribute to our success in controlling human nature and changing it to the advantage of the common weal. Edward Thorndike Read Quote
