Cognitive Psychology
Psychology is defined as the study of mind, emotion and behaviour. 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 it’s approaches to psychology and only linked in
it’s goal to create hypothetical mental structures to explain
behaviour (“History & Scope Of Psychology”).
The exact origins of cognitivism are difficult to pinpoint. Ideas that
make up the perspective have been traced back to ancient Greece;
however it is in modern times that it has developed to it’s prominent
status of today. This period of time is referred to as the “cognitive
revolution” of the 1960’s, lead by the work of those such as Piaget
and Chomsky. Prior to this revolution, behaviourism (the study of
cause and effect; environmental factors and their effect upon
behaviour) was considered to be the dominant school of thought in
psychology; however cognitivism soon emerged as the new dominant
perspective. (“The History & Scope of Psychology”). It was in the 1967
publication of Cognitive Psychology by Neisser that a name was coined
for the rising field of psychological science, and an outline of major
research-to-date and significant concepts was offered. (Maclin &
Solso, 2000)
The goals of cognitivism are to attempt to understand the way in which
the many processes of our minds work, through use of the scientific
research method. It emphasises the importance of the mind in
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The modern world of today, psychologists have drifted away from the popularity of the psychodynamic therapy is use. Considering that many still use portions within their professional practice currently, it would seem appropriate to conclude the value and worth of psychodynamic theory in psychological work. Generally speaking, those practicing cognitive-behavior theory are applying a blend of the psychodynamic theory within their psychological efforts.
The Behaviorist and Cognitive Approaches to Psychology In this essay I am going to explore two of the major approaches to Psychology, Cognitive theories and Behaviorist theories. I will discuss in some detail the two approaches, state how they compare and illustrate the similarities and the differences between them. John Watson, one of the founders of Behaviorism, based his theories on the principles of learning outlined by Pavlov who suggested the theory known as Classical Conditioning; he trained dogs to salivate whenever he rang a bell. Dogs have a natural reflex response to salivate when they see food, Pavlov rang a bell when the dogs were given food and after several repetitions of this action, the dogs began to salivate whenever they heard the bell, even when there was not any food there. This approach rejected the idea of the conscious mind.
When I began my studies at the University of Northern Iowa, I had an interest in the field of psychology, but I was not yet sure that I wanted to pursue a career in that area. The classes that I consequently took and the professors that taught them solidified my desire to receive a degree in psychology.
Clinical psychology aims to understand, treat and prevent psychological distress and dysfunction thus to encourage good health, good adaptive thinking and a healthy lifestyle. People working in this field research into mental dysfunction suffered by the patients, assess their cognitive state of mind and perform psychotherapy to decrease the psychological symptoms and/ or the underlying causes.
The study of psychology began as a theoretical subject a branch of ancient philosophy, and later as a part of biological sciences and physiology. However, over the years, it has grown into a rigorous science and a separate discipline, with its own sets of guidance and experimental techniques. This paper aims to study the various stages that the science of psychology passed through to reach its contemporary status, and their effects on its development. It begins with an overview of the historical and philosophical basis of psychology, discusses the development of the various schools of thought, and highlights their effects on contemporary personal and professional decision-making.
Several acheivements occurred in the development of cognitive psychology. The study of neuroscience brings us to what we know about cognition today. Cognitive psychology came from the criticisms and flaws of behaviorism. The focus of behaviorism is on observable behaviors, although cognitive psychology became a means to studying mental processes. Cognitive psychology can answer the questions behaviorism could not provide. Behavioral observations are key factors in cognitive psychology, and help with interpreting mental processes and behaviors. Through studying mental processes cognitive psychologists’ expanded psychology through and beyond observations. Behavioral observations helps researchers test cognitive theories. Behaviorists study observable behavior and cognitive psychologists study the mental processes. When studying these processes, researchers attempt to explain how unobservable processes interact with the observable behaviors and helping cognitive psychologists test their theories in
Psychology is the investigation of the mind and how it processes and directs our thoughts, actions and conceptions. However, in 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Nevertheless, the origins of psychology go all the way back thousands of years starting with the early Greeks. This foundation is closely connected to biology and philosophy; and especially the subfields of physiology which is the study of the roles of living things and epistemology, which is the study of comprehension and how we understand what we have learned. The connection to physiology and epistemology is often viewed as psychology, which is the hybrid offspring of those two fields of investigation.
Whilst evaluating the cognitive approach to psychology there are many strengths such as that the cognitive approach takes an understanding of the influence from mental processes on one’s behaviour, focusing on an individual’s thinking patterns and their perception. This approach also relates to many known functions and operations that the human body performs such as memory and problem solving.
One major contribution that cognitivism had on the study of psychology as a science came in the form of psychological theories. It returned the conditioning theory as well as comparative psychology back to a position where they recognized the there were a number of qualitative differences between the psychological processing of humans and animal (Greenwood, 1999). This is as a result of the empirical prob...
Bio-Psychologists study the principles of biology as it relates to the comprehension of psychology in the field neuroscience that underlies ones emotions, ideology, and actions (Brittanica). Based upon the conduction of research, the relationship between the brain and ones behavior extends to the physiological process in one’s intellect. Scientists are cognizant that neurotransmitters function as a significant role in mood regulation and other aspects of psychological problems including depression and anxiety. A biological perspective are relevant to psychology in three techniques including: the comparative method, physiology, and the investigation of inheritance (Saul Mc. Leod).
Insight is a term that is derived from Middle English expressions such as “inner sight, mental vision, [and] wisdom” (“Insight,” n.d.). According to the Oxford Dictionaries, the technical term for insight is “the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing” (“Insight,” n.d.). Insight is gravely important in regards to problem solving and creative thinking. It is indeed a concept that holds much value in the psychological community and is said to be “essential” to creative thinking (Qinglin, Jiang, & Guikang, 2004). The essence of the phrase ‘insight problem solving’ can be further explained as when a “problem solver fails to see how to solve a problem and then – ‘aha!’ – there is a sudden realization how to solve it” (Jones, 2003). When referring to insight, it is not that the problem solver received a miraculous idea from out of nowhere; the problem solver simply had a brief moment where he or she was completely unaware as to how a solution can be found. Therefore, “the problem solver was competent enough to accomplish the task to begin with” and they simply needed a moment to come up with a solution (Jones, 2003). Moreover, that is where the research and questions in regards to insight play a vital role in the cognitive field of psychology. The question that insight brings to light is, what happens in the mental process of an individual who becomes “stuck” and suddenly they gain insight and are able to create a solution (Jones, 2003)? As one can see, insight is a concept that is significant in cognitive psychology.
Public Safety Officials have been battling the difficult question of profiling for quite a while. The question is how do they know the suspected individual fit the category associated with an offense? While it has been proven that many profiling cases are somewhat directed to a racial profile, it can be proven that people, given the discretion, are able to identify explanations for a series of behavioral events by identifying what that behavior accredits to. This theory, identified by Frite Heider, “suggested that we have a tendency to give casual explanations for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition,” called the attribution theory. Until recently, a study of the like was considered to be a branch of sociology and not a form of psychology. Social psychology essentially became the focus on the individual rather than the group as a whole. Many thoughtful ideas are collected in response to the studies of social psychology. Human cognition is understood to arise from interacting socially; highlighting the importance of socialization. We use social cognition to develop our explanations and our ideas on why a person’s behavior is/does what it is/does.
For this week's discussion the theory that resonated with me the most is the Cognitive Behavioral Theory with Dr. Krumboltz. I have always been drawn to the CBT, as I feel that an individual's negative or destructive behaviors can be changed for the better with the right intervention, client understanding, acceptance and awareness of their role in their behavior. Dr. Krumboltz terms this as a learning approach (01:35). The video displays Dr. Krumboltz and his client Robin discussing the issues Robin is experiencing with her mother-in-law, as well as the impact those issues at times have on her marriage.
The Science of Psychology “Psychology is the scientific study of mind, brain and behaviour. Some of what you do learn may seem like ‘common sense’, or at least familiar to you because you are learning about topics in which you can relate to. However some things you may believe is true, but is incorrect. The way we know this is through the application of scientific methods.” Mark Leary suggests that the subject matter of psychology is much more familiar to most people than is the subject matter of physics or biology; we see behaviour all around us.
There is no one way to learn! Throughout life is faced with many different learning experiences. Some of these experiences have made a better impact than others on different people. At one time in everyone’s life one has seen or have been the child who will attempt to read a single page from a book and become so frustrated and disorientated because she or he does not comprehended nor can one retell what one has just read. This was me, the child who struggled and just did not understand what I was reading. My teachers would present reading material and I would have to read it countless times and sometimes still I did not understand what the reading passage was about. However, with time I started to develop step by step process to help me better understand what I was reading, and finally it all came together. One way to help things to come together for a person is through the Cognitive Theory. The Cognitive Theory presents different theories for the way that one can be taught in different subjects, the different types of learners, and advantages of understanding the process in which one can go through to learn better.