Final answer:
Thorndike conducted research using puzzle boxes to study animal behavior and learning. He found that animals can learn through trial and error and that their learning is influenced by the consequences they experience. This research was important in psychology as it challenged the idea that animals only learn through instinct and provided a foundation for behaviorism and operant conditioning theories.
Step-by-step explanation:
Thorndike conducted research using puzzle boxes to study animal behavior. He placed animals, such as cats, inside puzzle boxes that had a simple mechanism to be solved in order to access food. Thorndike found that over time, the animals would learn how to escape the puzzle box through trial and error. He observed that the animals' escape times decreased as they repeated the task, indicating learning and the formation of associations between the correct responses and the desired outcome.Based on his research, Thorndike concluded that animals possess the ability to learn through trial and error, and their learning is influenced by the consequences they experience. This suggested that animals have a certain level of intelligence and mental processes.Thorndike's research was important in psychology because it contributed to the understanding of animal behavior and learning. It challenged the prevailing belief at that time that animals only learned through instinct and reflex. Thorndike's findings paved the way for further research on the psychology of learning and provided a foundation for behaviorism and operant conditioning theories.