ABSTRACT
Thorndike's first experiments were designed to prove that cats and dogs act by conditioned impulses, rather than by using memory or anticipation. Many students are still familiar with one of Thorndike's particular contributions to education, which may be used to illustrate both virtues and vices of his general approach. There are surely virtues in measurement, or at least utilities in measurement, and that is why the Thorndike-Lorge word-frequency list is still consulted for experiments on words. Regrettably, Tolman's purposive behaviourism is an example of the inverse plausibility rule for psychological theories. This states that, by and large, the practical effects of a psychological theory are in inverse proportion to its general soundness and plausibility. It is, most unfortunately, a characteristic of appeals to reason that they utterly fail to overcome either emotional prejudices or neurotic habits. Even if it is not a question of high-level rationality, but just a matter of seeking obvious goals, then human goal-seeking mechanisms are fallible.
