Evolution of Cognitive Psychology
Plynia Welty
Psych 560
June 11, 2012
Brian Uldall
Evolution of Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology embarked on a revolutionary journey since the era of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Dr. King, 2012). St. Aquinas was the pioneering mind behind the idea that behavior can be divided into two areas, cognitive and effect." Logging empirical research on a subject provides practitioners a comprehensive view of the subject matter" (Dr. King, 2012). In relation to cognitive psychology, one must first have a definition of cognition. The next line of thinking would be to have a working knowledge if interdisciplinary perspective as related to cognitive psychology and a description of the appearance of
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The cognitive processes begin at age zero and continue until life ceases. However, the cognitive process will vary from person to person depending on his or her social situation in life and the amount of intellectual stimulus dedicated to the individual.
Interdisciplinary Perspective as Related to Cognitive Psychology In order to understand the interdisciplinary perspective in relation to cognitive psychology it is necessary to understand the discipline itself and its attractiveness. History shows that cognitive psychology was originally considered experimental psychology (McLeod, 2007). The term cognitive psychology came into use around 1967 with the publication of a book titled "Cognitive Psychology" by Ulric Neisser (McLeod, 2007). The Cognitive Science Society officially began in the late 1970's. Psychology was not considered a main player. The core group was formed from three main disciplines, artificial intelligence, psychology, and linguistics. While philosophy, neuroscience and anthropology played smaller roles (Gentner, 2010). Since cognitive psychologusts play a dominant role in the field of psychology, a large amount of practitioners consider themselves cognitive psychologists. Many sub disciplines contain cognition and is based on the root of psychology. Cognitive psychology is the center focus "within the interdisciplinary field study termed cognitive science"
Cognitive Psychology draws the comparison between the human mind and a computer, suggesting that we like the computer process the information we acquire from around us and then react accordingly. Hearnshaw, (1987), claims that Cognitive Psychology is both one of the oldest and also one of the newest parts of Psychology, cited in ?T. Malim?, (1994). Information is collected through our senses i.e. vision, touch, smell etc and then processed through our
The changes in how different psychological processes were identified and understood in the 1950s and 1960s is what many refer to as the “cognitive revolution.” The introduction of research in problems that have already been met - for instance, studying problems of memory and decision making - led to the new approach of theorizing. The cognitive revolution focused on just a couple of key concepts. One idea that stemmed during the cognitive revolution is that the science of psychology cannot direct study the mental world. Another idea that grew during the cognitive revolution was that in order to understand behavior, the science of psychology has to study the mental world (Cognition, pg. 8).
Cognitive psychology is a pure science based mainly on laboratory experiments and began to revolutionize psychology in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s and became the dominant approach in psychology by the late 1970’s [ (McLeod, 2007) ] according to Saul McLeod. An example of the cognitive perspective would be when one learns to take blood pressure. First you must learn how to manipulate the blood pressure manometer, learn how to hear blood pressure sounds and understand the meaning of the sounds. As each time you practice these activity, you will gain more confidence and competence in performing the task. The strong point of this perspective is that it mostly uses rigorous scientific methods and the approach has had many practical applications. The weakness of this perspective is that it is to simplistic. It ignores the complexity of the human function, biological influences of the human function and it ignores the emotions, conscious experience and free will.
Though we may not realize it nor want to acknowledge it, Cognitive Psychology is a part of every human 's daily life. Cognitive Psychology is the scientific study of the mind as an information processor. In a simpler definition, it is the study of how our minds interpret and process things that we either are informed of or something we take into thought. Cognitive Psychology is a part of our attention process, language use, our memory for both long and short term, perception, problem solving, creativity, and the way we think. Each of these different features are a part of how we perceive information, think, remember, and use the information we gather. Through this branch of psychology, researchers are able to observe the relationship
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a short-term, problem-centered therapy that is used to address psychopathology within the individual (Beck, 1995). This model of therapy is used to address issues of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, relational problems, and drug abuse, and can be utilized when working with individuals, as well as within group and family modalities. The core aspects of this therapy include collaboration and participation by the client, a strong alliance between therapist and client, and an initial focus on current problems and functioning (Beck, 1995). The theory of CBT emphasizes the relationship between the individual’s thoughts feelings and behaviors, which is seen as being the underlying cause of
Cognition refers to the process in which people are able to acquire and comprehend various forms of knowledge through their thoughts, experiences and use of their sensory systems. This process of cognition is in itself takes various processes. It must be said as early as now that the ultimate result of cognition processes is to result in one learning. The cognitive processes are started by one having to pay attention. This
Cognitive psychology is concerned with the internal processes involved in making sense of the environment and deciding what action may be appropriate. These processes include attention, perception, learning and reasoning, (Eysenck and Keane, 2010).There are a number of approaches which can be used within this field, however for the purposes of the essay only two will be compared; cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. The aims of cognitive neuroscientists are often similar to those of cognitive psychologists; they are both interested in the brain and cognition, (Medin and Ross, 1996). Nevertheless, it could be argued that there are also some fundamental differences between the two approaches, especially in the research methods
Although it shares cognitive neuroscience’s roots, cognitive neuropsychology has developed into a discrete discipline. While cognitive neuroscience studies neural organisation of the brain, cognitive neuropsychology concerns itself with the brain’s functional architecture; Coltheart (2010) describes this as a distinction between brain and mind. According to, among others, Coltheart (2002, cited Coltheart, 2010) this makes cognitive neuropsychology a branch of cognitive psychology rather than neuroscience.
1). Cognitive research is often labeled in literature as thinking, reasoning, perceiving, problem-solving, critical thinking, conflict resolution, moral reasoning, decision-making, perception and abstraction (p. 2). Cognitive-based strategies are considered therapeutic rather than educational.
Cognitive psychology is the scientific investigation of human cognition, that is, all our mental abilities – perceiving, learning, remembering, thinking, reasoning, and understanding. The term “cognition” stems from the Latin word “
Cognitive psychology is the segment of psychology that explores internal mental processes such as visual processing, memory, problem solving, and language. Cognitive psychology also focuses on information processing and the method of how people store, manipulate and use information (Barsalou, 2005). With an emphasis on thought processes, cognitive psychology also explores and discusses thinking and knowledge acquisition as conceptual terms. Well known contributors to the fields, such as Jean Piaget, are especially concerned with the development of cognition and formed stage theories to explain
This essay will be focused on two different approaches to cognitive psychology: Cognitive Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience. Cognitive Neuropsychology is concerned with the patterns of cognitive performance and emphasis on the cognitive effects of brain-damaged patients who suffered lesions, injuries or diseases, providing vest information on normal human cognition. (Eysenck and Keane 2015, p.5) Whereas cognitive neuroscience involves in-depth study of our brain and behaviours. As the brain contains numerous neurones and is so complicated, the cognitive neuroscience emphasis on the biological side of the brain and focuses on the lobes that are divided from the cerebral cortex.
Cognitive psychology began emerging in the 1950’s. As highlighted by Kraiger and Salas (1993), this was partially as a response to behaviorism. Critics noted that behaviorism failed to explain how some internal development processes impacted behavior. Cognitive psychology focuses on how individuals acquire process and in the long run store information. Currently, cognitive psychology concentrates on few key human characteristics which include:
“Cognitive psychology is a modern approach to the study of [processes by which people come to understand the world- such processes as memory, learning, comprehending language, problem solving, and creativity. Cognitive psychology has been influenced by developments in language, computer science, and of course, earlier work in philosophy and psychology” – Hayes (cited by Lundin)
Scientist can do that by using cognitive science, a discipline that helps with understanding human mind, consisting of concepts from psychology, neurology, linguistics, artificial intelligence to the philosophy of language and mind. Kershen (2012) puts an emphasis on using proverbs as a useful tool in modern psychology in order to test cognition, personal traits cerebral disease, and other psychological-related behaviours. Modern psychologists can use proverbs for these purposes, because of widespread knowledge of existing proverbs around the world and their importance as indicators of social norms of