Preview

Cognitive Psychology

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
770 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cognitive Psychology
What is Cognitive Psychology

What is Cognitive Psychology
The branch of psychology that studies the cerebral processes of the mind, such as thinking, remembering, perceiving, problem solving, and language is cognitive psychology. This consists of mental representations and using theoretical ideas to find connection among brain functions and structures. Cognitive psychology became popular during the regression of behaviorism and the use of technology and neuroscience. Its core focus is on information; how gained, processed, and stored. Where behaviorism fell short, cognitive psychology uplifted. Noam Chomsky is responsible for highlighting some shortcomings of behaviorism. Cognitive psychology has forged forward through important movements, observation, and key contributors.
Cognitive Psychology developed as a response to other approaches in psychology. It was not until the 1950s that psychologists sought new ways to explain the way people think. As it developed, four major steps were visible to imprint cognitive psychology as a major branch of psychology. Many supported behaviorism because it was straightforward and observable, but it lacked the ability to account for mental processes, especially in language. The stepping-stone for cognitive psychology was the crumbling of behaviorism. Many supporters started to believe that it could not do what it promised and mental processes were vital to the study of psychology. Behaviorist believed that people performed certain tasks because they receive a reward such as in language. It “tries to reduce mental things to types of behavioral things” (Moore, 2013, p. 670). Cognitive psychology offered reasons about why behaviors happen outside just receiving rewards for repeating a behavior. Next psychologist developed the idea that the human brain uses representations and processes like a computer. This information processing model suggests that humans get information from their



References: Bergesen, A. J. (2004). Chomsky versus mead*. Sociological Theory, 22(3), 357-370. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213333679?accountid=458 Moore, J. (2013). TUTORIAL: COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AS A RADICAL BEHAVIORIST VIEWS IT. The Psychological Record,63(3), 667-679. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1442999198?accountid=458 Willingham, D. T. (2007). Cognition: The thinking animal (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Psychology

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages

    [Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document.]…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cognitive Psychology is the study of the mental processing, which can include thinking, problem solving, believing, speaking, decision-making, and learning. To summarize it is the study of the mind and how the mind functions in daily life and situations. In our daily life cognitive Psychology is always being used in order to stimulate some sort of action that is needed. There are many milestones that have been developed in relation to Cognitive Psychology.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Week One Psy103 Ind Assign

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cognitive Psychology focuses on individual thought, the processing of information, and personal perception. Cognitive psychology identifies one’s ability to intake information, process said information, and structure a response based on processed information.…

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think, perceive, remember, and learn (Cherry, n.d.). This is a fairly new branch of psychology; however it has started to become one of the more popular subfields. In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt converted a laboratory into the first institute for research in experimental psychology (Galotti, 2014). Some of the practical applications for cognitive psychology are memory, language acquisition, and attention, forgetting, and learning styles.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    psy 360

    • 1407 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes surrounding learning, memory, perception, and thought. Though it is still a relatively new formal branch of psychology, its roots extend back to Descartes who sought a way to explain how the mind worked, proposing the analogy of a “hydraulic system of nerve function” (Willingham, 2007, p. 26) after he observed animated statues in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It has been the restless pursuit of not only the idea of how the mind works but also what exactly constituted the mind that eventually led to the foundations of cognitive theory. As psychologists examined how mental processes produced behavior, it was evident a different approach would be needed.…

    • 1407 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Psychology

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. What are the five steps of the scientific method?*Problem: Stated as a question*Hypothesis: a scientific or educational guess. *Materials: list all the materials that are used in the experiment. *Procedures: list step by step directions needed to be followed for this experiment. *Results/Conclusion: re- state your problem/question then answer your hypothesis. Gather together all your information.…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psychology

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages

    11)Describe the nature-nurture controversy as it relates to intelligence, citing some of the research and studies which support both sides of the debate.…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The word psychology derives from the Greek psyche (mind, soul spirit) and logos (discourse, study). It suggests that psychology is simply 'study of the mind'. However, it is worth to mentioning that definition of psychology has been changed in order to dominant perspective.…

    • 1761 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cognitive psychology is the discipline within psychology that investigates the internal mental processes of thought such as visual processing, memory, problem solving, or language (Wikipedia , January 2009). Cognitivism is the school of thought that comes from this approach. This school of though is interested in how people mentally represent information processing. Wilhelm Wundt, the Gestalt psychology of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler and Kurt Koffka, and of course Jean Piaget was the foundations in this work. They provided the theory or stages that describe children’s cognitive development (Wikipedia, January 2009). There are two approaches that cognitive psychologist use to understand, diagnose, and solve problems. These two approaches are psychophysical and experimental approaches. These approaches help them concerning themselves with the mental processes which happen to mediate between stimulus and response. Cognitive theory contends two things. One is that solutions to problems take the form of algorithms; this is rules that are not necessarily understood but do promise a solution. The other is the heuristics or that rules can be understood but may not always generate a solution.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Psychology

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Distinguish between operant conditioning, observational learning, and social learning. How are these different kinds of learning utilized in the work place? Give specific examples for each one.…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Psychology

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Exaptation: A variation of adaptation. An adaptation is a core construct in evolutionary psychology, which is a characteristic that a species has that promotes its survival. An exaptation is something that arises from a characteristic that you already have. A characteristic that you have is modified to promote your survival. It might not have been a primary future, but it is a characteristic that human beings have acquired over time that humans have used to their advantage. For example, the ability to reject an offer is an exaptation that people have made over time, which people have benefited from.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the late 19th century many psychologists became more and more fascinated in cognition. After following earlier behaviorists and their theories, such as Jean Piaget in the early 19th century with his interest in child thought, B.F. Skinner in the mid 19th century with his language and operant conditioning, or even Noam Chomsky who disputed B.F. Skinner’s theory a few years after. What substituted these behaviorists’ theories after many uncertainties of proficiency was what is called cognitive psychology…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cognitive Approach

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A further strength of the cognitive approach is the useful contributions that have arisen from this approach. For example, many modern types of therapy are based on the cognitive approach. Understanding cognitive processes allows us to help people to improve their cognitive processes such as memory and language. The Baron-Cohen et al. study enables us to better understand the behaviour of people with autism, Loftus and Palmers. study highlights the limitations of eye-witness testimonies and the ape research may offer strategies to help children with language difficulties to develop language or to use strategies such as the lexigram system. Furthermore the cognitive approach has become the dominant approach in psychology particularly since it has become allied with neurology. The cognitive approach nowadays is often called cognitive science and is able to provide a very sophisticated understanding of how the brain processes information.…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Psychology is defined as the study of mind, emotion and behavior. One major perspective within psychology is known as cognitive psychology, which is primarily concerned with the explanation of thought processes through the development of theoretical mental systems. Cognitivism is somewhat broad in its approaches to psychology and only linked in its goal to create hypothetical mental structures to explain…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The development of the cognitive approach as a mainstream psychological perspective has four major milestones and these are the shortfalls of the behaviorist perspective of psychology, secondly, the ability for abstract constructs to account for the aforementioned shortfalls, thirdly the bridging of abstract constructs with observable mechanisms through the medium of artificial intelligence and neuroscience and fourth, the realization that the representations and processes of cognition is similar to the internal functioning of a computer. The behaviorism of the early 20th century could not account for many observable behaviors documented…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics