That is because it did not fit with the methodological cannon Thorndike's dissertation had imposed on animal psychology research since its 1898 publication: rigorous experimental methodology, a dependent variable measured quantitatively, a control group, and ample sample size.
Regarding the epistemology of Thorndike's theory, while Kohler explicitly acknowledged that perspective's contributions to the study of animal psychology, he nonetheless believed his studies of chimpanzees contradicted the principle of chance, especially in demonstrating the existence of a type of intelligent behavior that depends on situational structure: "if [in Thorndike's theory] the "natural fractions" were neither coherent with the structure of the situation, nor among themselves, then [Kohler's experiments showed] a coherence of the "curve of solution" in itself, and with the optical situation" (Kohler, 1925, pp.
Kohler's Book in Context: Animal Psychology in His Time
To assess the impact of Kohler's work at the Anthropoid Station in Tenerife on animal psychology in his time, particularly in the United States where animal research was well established, may be difficult.
That being said, this mutual recognition that their perspectives on intelligent behavior in apes aligned did not hide the fact that Yerkes's theoretical ideas developed in the tradition of American animal psychology, a perspective far-removed from Kohler's.