Cognitive Psychology
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 cognitive psychology as a discipline. Finally, an understanding of the impact of the decline of behaviorism on the discipline of cognitive psychology is needed. Define Cognition Cognition is defined as a term that refers to the mental processes involved in the gaining of knowledge and comprehension (Staff, 2012). The processes included in cognition are thinking, knowing, remembering, judging, and problem solving (Gentner, 2010). These are considered higher-level functions of the brain and include language, imagination, perception, and planning. The attempts to explain how cognition works are as old as philosophy itself. The term actually comes from the writings of Plato and Aristotle (Schueler, 1997). The dawn of psychology as a discipline separate from philosophy provided the opportunity for cognition to be investigated from several viewpoints. A more simplified explanation of cognition can be described by use of an example. One example of the cognitive process is the development of a child. A child is born negated of understanding. He or she will begin the cognitive process from the experiences they gather from their environment. A child can be compared to a computer in search of input; once the input is
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 cognitive psychology as a discipline. Finally, an understanding of the impact of the decline of behaviorism on the discipline of cognitive psychology is needed. Define Cognition Cognition is defined as a term that refers to the mental processes involved in the gaining of knowledge and comprehension (Staff, 2012). The processes included in cognition are thinking, knowing, remembering, judging, and problem solving (Gentner, 2010). These are considered higher-level functions of the brain and include language, imagination, perception, and planning. The attempts to explain how cognition works are as old as philosophy itself. The term actually comes from the writings of Plato and Aristotle (Schueler, 1997). The dawn of psychology as a discipline separate from philosophy provided the opportunity for cognition to be investigated from several viewpoints. A more simplified explanation of cognition can be described by use of an example. One example of the cognitive process is the development of a child. A child is born negated of understanding. He or she will begin the cognitive process from the experiences they gather from their environment. A child can be compared to a computer in search of input; once the input is
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