Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
“Cognitive Psychology is a psychological perspective that addresses mental processes such as thinking, problem solving, perceiving, remembering, believing, and speaking, and seeks to identify behavior by characteristics other than its obvious properties,” (“Cognitive psychology,” 2009). Cognitive psychology and behaviorism are comparable but the main differentiation is that behaviorism fails to address mental processes and cognitive psychology works to create a comprehensible definition of these processes. “Cognitive psychology addresses the unobservable nature of the human psyche and uses abstract constructs to produce observable behavior resulting in a more accurate understanding of these processes,” (Willingham, 2007). The cognitive division of psychology was initiated with four major milestones, which Willingham (2007) listed beginning with the first milestone; behaviorism could not account for all the experimental data, especially in studies of language and memory. Willingham (2007) went on to describe the other milestones and the second milestone was when it looked as if abstract constructs would help account for the data, followed by neuroscientists and artificial intelligence researchers providing examples of how abstract constructs could be used effectively in a scientific way. “The final milestone is the interaction of representations and the processes that manipulate them can be likened to the workings of a computer,” (Willingham, 2007).
The development of cognitive psychology was brought on by the fall of behaviorism. For a period of time between the 1920s and the 1950s, behaviorism was the preferred point of view for psychologists in the United States. Psychologists were drawn to behaviorism because the philosophy was straightforward and the basic unit of behavior was believed to be reflex. “Watson’s four basic principles of behaviorism began with psychologists should only focus on that which is observable, psychologists
“Cognitive Psychology is a psychological perspective that addresses mental processes such as thinking, problem solving, perceiving, remembering, believing, and speaking, and seeks to identify behavior by characteristics other than its obvious properties,” (“Cognitive psychology,” 2009). Cognitive psychology and behaviorism are comparable but the main differentiation is that behaviorism fails to address mental processes and cognitive psychology works to create a comprehensible definition of these processes. “Cognitive psychology addresses the unobservable nature of the human psyche and uses abstract constructs to produce observable behavior resulting in a more accurate understanding of these processes,” (Willingham, 2007). The cognitive division of psychology was initiated with four major milestones, which Willingham (2007) listed beginning with the first milestone; behaviorism could not account for all the experimental data, especially in studies of language and memory. Willingham (2007) went on to describe the other milestones and the second milestone was when it looked as if abstract constructs would help account for the data, followed by neuroscientists and artificial intelligence researchers providing examples of how abstract constructs could be used effectively in a scientific way. “The final milestone is the interaction of representations and the processes that manipulate them can be likened to the workings of a computer,” (Willingham, 2007).
The development of cognitive psychology was brought on by the fall of behaviorism. For a period of time between the 1920s and the 1950s, behaviorism was the preferred point of view for psychologists in the United States. Psychologists were drawn to behaviorism because the philosophy was straightforward and the basic unit of behavior was believed to be reflex. “Watson’s four basic principles of behaviorism began with psychologists should only focus on that which is observable, psychologists
References: Cacioppo, J. (2002). Social neuroscience: Understanding the pieces fosters understanding the whole and vice versa. American Psychologist. 57(11). 819-831. Retrieved March 3, 2013. EBSCOhost. Cherry, B. K. (n.d.). What Is Cognitive Psychology? Psychology - Complete Guide to Psychology for Students, Educators & Enthusiasts. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/f/cogpsych.htmCognitive psychology. (2009). In The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/penguinpsyc/cognitive_psychologyWillingham, D. T. (2007). Cognition: The thinking animal (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.