Life is One Big Puzzle Box

 True wisdom comes from the continuous pursuit of knowledge and self improvement. 

Edward Thorndike.

I was reminded of a pre-Skinner behavioural and educational psychologist by the name of Edward Thorndike today, when I randomly opened Atomic Habits. I had learned about him in many of  the psychology and adult education courses I took over the years. As I seek true knowlege and self improvemnt, I am presently re-learning about habits, more specifically how to reinforce the life learning we want to adhere to, while getting  rid of the learning that is in the way of us living peaceful lives. I randomly opened up to a page from the book and there he was. The learning and the relativity of it to what I am doing now came back with Clear's mention of the "puzzle box". 

Puzzle Box?

Life is one big puzzle box we are stuck in. We are endelessly trying to open some door that will lead us to a rewarding experience.

Say what, crazy lady? 

Thorndike studied hungry cats as they learned to escape from his "puzzle boxes". The accidental behaviour that led to escape was then  reinforced with a meal. Throughout his observations and data collection, he noted that cats, like all beings really, learn by trial and error, what he called a process of "learning by trial and accidental success". Reward was the success consequence that determined the appropriate response (which was to push a certain lever that would open the door to freedom). The hungry cats began by pawing randomly without really knowing what they were doing. They were, however, highly motivated to keep trying, to keep learning how to open the door because the reinforcement, the reward, the food would only come after they pushed the right lever. They were also trying to avoid/escape the unpleasant sensation of hunger as well as the uncomfortable feeling of being trapped in a box. From his observations,  Thorndike would be accredited for terming: the learning curve: the trial and error learning methodolgy, and the law of effect: the relationship between response and reward. (Carlson et al, 2005)

Life as a puzzle box

Isn't life one big puzzle box?  Are we not all feeling somewhat trapped and hungry for something? Are we not constantly learning by experimenting, testing, trying, failing, trying again, succeeding etc to get that darn door to open so we can get even a glimpse of the bigger reward? Are we not all looking for freedom whether we know it or not?

The learning taht is observed taking place in the Puzzle box can be charted on a graph. We see, initially, a graph line that is not rising, indicating that there are no outward signs of learning. We can see the cats, in the beginning of their experience, randomly running around meowing and scratching at whatever is there.  Though it looks like disorganized panic, the cats are actually trying to figure things out. They are learning. The brain is extremely active at this time taking in a lot of sensory information and monitoring and recording  the effect of each random pawing or scratch.  Then there is a gradual incline in the slope upward. Next, by accident, some movement the cat makes with its paw opens the door. Viola. The hyperactivity of the brain is rewarded with a succes. This will be recorded in the brain as a "repeat this next time" and on the graph as a peak when the behaviour gets repeated again. Learning has reached its climax. It took a while to get there but the cats reached the summit!The behaviour will then  be repeated again and again until it  becomes a habit.

Behaviours followed by satisfactory consequences tend to be repeated and those that produce unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated. Thorndike, Atomic Habits Page 44

This is the basis of Thorndike's behaviour analysis and it is the basic premise of James Clear's book. Behaviours are repeated when a reward for that behaviour is received and the more a behaviour is repeated, it becomes automatic requiring little effort from the brain to figure things out. Brain activity will begin to decline (the negative slope on the learning curve is made). 

Trial and Error Before Automaticity

So many of our habits are automatic and we do not even think about them as we perform them. Yet they do not begin that way. Look at driving a car.  After years of driving, most of our driving is unconscious. How much of a big learning curve it was  though to gain mastery of all the little skills and things we needed to remember in order to learn to drive. Like: Set up everything for comfort inside the car before you turn on the ignition. Put on your seat bealt. Check your rear view. Shift the car into reverse.  Put just the right amount of pressure on the gas pedal as you back up.  Checking over your shoulders etc...And that is just backing out of your driveway. 

And of course there is, in those beginning learning experiences, a lot of trial and error...We make mistakes and we learn, we try something else. sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail, sometimes we are rewarded and sometimes we are punished.  We keep trying until we get it right. The brain is hyperactive and so focused on the task of learning.  Then before we know it we are driving without a thought to what we are doing.  It  all becomes so automatic.

I am hoping that my learning will become automatic in this Life puzzle box I am in. Self improvement and wisdom, enough at least to bring a bit of peace, is what I am looking for as  I press this lever and that lever, and that one over there...I make a lot of mistakes. I keep learning from trial and error. I am hoping to accidently land on the right lever some day. I am hoping to discover which one opens the door to freedom and which one doesn't. 

Learning is an amazing thing to understand. It is all good.

All is well in my world.

James Clear ( 2018) Atomic Hbaits. New York: avery

Carlson, N; Buskt, W.; Enzie, M. & Heth, C. (2005) Psychology: The Science of Behaviour. Toronto: Pearson