Trial and error is a fundamental method of solving problems. It is characterised by repeated, varied attempts which are continued until success, or until the agent stops trying.
According to W.H. Thorpe, the term was devised by C. Lloyd Morgan after trying out similar phrases "trial and failure" and "trial and practice". Under Morgan's Canon, animal behaviour should be explained in the simplest possible way. Where behaviour seems to imply higher mental processes, it might be explained by trial-and-error learning. An example is the skillful way in which his terrier Tony opened the garden gate, easily misunderstood as an insightful act by someone seeing the final behaviour. Lloyd Morgan, however, had watched and recorded the series of approximations by which the dog had gradually learned the response, and could demonstrate that no insight was required to explain it.
Edward Thorndike showed how to manage a trial-and-error experiment in the laboratory. In his famous experiment, a cat was placed in a series of puzzle boxes in order to study the law of effect in learning. He plotted learning curves which recorded the timing for each trial. Thorndike's key observation was that learning was promoted by positive results, which was later refined and extended by B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning.
Trial and Error is Jack Woodford's book on writing and the publishing industry. The book focuses on writing and editing and describes the behind-the-scenes machinations that result in the final publication of writing.
The book was instrumental in the writing careers of Ray Bradbury, Jerry Pournelle, Piers Anthony, Robert A. Heinlein, and Richard A. Lupoff. The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler contain a paraphrased excerpt from Trial and Error that Chandler wrote from memory, entitled "Jack Woodford's Rules for Writing a Novel."
The introduction was written by the founder of Esquire magazine Arnold Gingrich.
Trial and error is a general method of problem solving.
Trial and error may also refer to:
Waking - here we go again
Basting pieces, de-skinning my bones
Wading through old blood and stains
Restructuring the crime
To reach the end of the line
Angelic choirs sing: am I forgiven?
Split my flesh to reveal
There's nothing left to curse
Tearing my wounds in vain
When seeking for myself in pain
Fading into a brand new day
Godless dreams breeds a hopeless wake
Scarring these old wounds again
Preparing my demise, yet expecting reprise
Demonic legions shriek: I am forsaken!
Split my flesh to reveal
There is nothing left to curse
Tearing my wounds in vain