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Thorndike developed the laws of behavior, which he discovered from his animal research. He is known for his research with chicks, rats, dogs, and monkeys, but his most famous study was the Puzzle Box research with cats. He found that learning could occur incrementally or automatically. Instrumental learning occurred slowly but then quickly after the successful consequences of many satisfying experiences. Learning could also occur automatically without any prior successful experiences.

Most controversial was his conclusion that humans and animals basically learn in the same way and that animals have similar intelligence. The puzzle box was an early symbol of animal intelligence and the similarity in learning between the animal and human world.