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Chapter 2 the history of psychology
Chapter 2 the history of psychology
Importance of cognitive psychology
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Cognitive Psychology The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind and mental processes, memory, attention, decision making, problem solving, language, and reasoning falls within the Cognitive approach to Psychology. Although there is argument as to who created Cognitive Psychology, many point to the 1950s and 1960s, of Ulric Neisser's book Cognitive Psychology, which made references to the human mind functioning in the same fashion as computers. This method came about due to the disappointment and frustration with the behavioral process, focusing more on our visible behavior without understanding the internal methods creating …show more content…
Skinner, was an inspiration to many psychologists and is still thought as the best cognitive psychologist. His idea of effective learning was a transformation in the traditional education system. His theory implied that if a child’s actions were immediately rewarded with a positive outcome, the action will increase. This notion was accepted into schools to make the learning process of children more relaxed and much calmer. Other important Cognitive psychologists were Edward B. Titchener, Hermann Ebbinghaus, Edward C. Tolman, Naom Chomsky, David Rumelhart, and Wolfgang Kohler.
Using brain imaging techniques like the fMRI, cognitive psychology is now capable of analyzing the connection between the physiology of the brain and its mental processes. Looking into the future, cognitive psychology will without a doubt focus on computer based approaches even more. It is because of this that the field of cognitive psychology will benefit from the advancements in the area of IT. Also, computer based approaches can be joined with classical behavioral approaches, where understanding someone’s mental state from exhibited
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By characterizing that attention is both a limited and selective resource, psychologists can come up with solutions that make it easier for people with attention struggles. This will improve their attentiveness and concentration. Cognitive Psychology is a practical approach used to create the multi-stored model of memory processes, supported by man other experiments, considers the internal thought processes that affect our
It seems as new minds enter the field so does new ways of thinking, as with anything the science evolves depending on the perspective of the person who views it. Similar to the main character in “The Noticer”. The main character helps people by expanding their perspective. Cognitive psychology is similar in the way it studies the various intricacies of a person’s behaviors and way of thinking. Cognitive psychology is relative because when one considers a person’s perception it usually has a basis in a person’s experience. In other words perception is a series of layers and cognitive psychology has a basis in the various layers of processing information that one acquires and stores.
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.
Historically, cognitive psychology was unified by an approach based on an resemblance between the mind and a computer, (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). Cognitive neuroscientists argue convincingly that we need to study the brain while people engage in cognitive tasks. Clearly, the internal processes involved in human cognition occur in the brain, and several sophisticated ways of studying the brain in action, including various imaging techniques, now exist, (Sternberg and Wagner, 1999, page 34).Neuroscience studies how the activity of the brain is correlated with cognitive operations, (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). On the other hand, cognitive neuropsychologists believe that we can draw general conclusions about the way in which the intact mind and brain work from mainly studying the behaviour of neurological patients rather than their physiology, (McCarthy and Warrington, 1990).
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
In it's simplest form, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, (or CBT as it will be referred to from here on out), refers to the approach of changing dysfunctional behaviors and thoughts to realistic and healthy ones. CBT encompasses several types of therapy focusing on the impact of an individual's thinking as it relates to expressed behaviors. Such models include rational emotive therapy (RET), rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), behavior therapy (BT), Rational Behavior Therapy (RBT), Schema Focused Therapy, Cognitive therapy (CT). Most recently a few other variations have been linked to CBT such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectic behavioral therapy (DBT), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) (Harrington and Pickles, 2009). The main aspect that all of these branches of therapy share, is that our thoughts relate to our external behaviors. External events and individuals do not cause the negative thoughts or feelings, but, instead the perception of events and situations is the root cause (National Association of Cognitive Behavioral Therapists, 2010).
For cognitive scientists and psychologists, the mind is that part of everyone that embodies our memories, thoughts, hopes, desires, beliefs, and experiences. On the other hand, the brain is an organ of the body. It is a collection of chemicals and blood vessels, cells and water th...
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.
Like some other psychologist, B.F. Skinner has criticized cognitive psychology in reviewed articles, providing examples and reasoning’s to justify his belief that cognitive psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior. In psychology, and all of the other sciences, relying on opinions is abandoned in order to find out which explanations best fit the evidence or data given. Science continually forces us to question our findings and conclusions. Over time, psychology has advanced greatly and a main reason for such progressiveness is because of the change in the research model used.
B.F. Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, a small town where he spent his childhood. He was the first-born son of a lawyer father and homemaker mother who raised him and his younger brother. As a young boy, Skinner enjoyed building and used his imaginative mind to invent many different devices. He spent his college years at Hamilton College in New York to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in writing. Following his graduation in 1926, Skinner explored writings of Pavlov, Russell, and Watson, three influential men in the field of behavioral psychology. After two years as a failed writer, Skinner applied to Harvard University to earn his Ph.D. in psychology.
Balota, D. A. and Marsh, E.J. Cognitive psychology. Key Readings. (2004) Hove: East Sussex: Psychology Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (1999). Cognitive psychology (2nd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers
In this essay I am looking at where Psychology as a discipline has come from and what affects these early ideas have had on psychology today, Psychology as a whole has stemmed from a number of different areas of study from Physics to Biology,
This allows cognitive scientists to conceive of the processes involved in human mental states and events as computational states of the brain that can be studied like those of a computer (Mackay & Petocz, 2010, Ben-Menahem, 2005). According to the computational model, the mind operates as the software, facilitating the processing of information via symbols and the brain is the hardware of the computer (Mackay & Petocz, 2010, Notterman, 2000). Within the computational model, information in the form of mental representations, is processed in the brain as symbols tokens with both syntactic and semantic properties (Worst, 1996). These form the input that enter the brain as information, where they are processed by the neurophysiology of the brain via cognitive functions (software) resulting in output (behaviour) (Notterman, 2000). Proponents of the computational model see psychology as the study of these computational processes, whereby mental phenomena are construed as objects that exist inside the mind of the cognisor (Boden, 1988).
Cognitive Psychology is focused on learning based on how people perceive, remember, think, speak and problem-solve. The cognitive perspective differs in...