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The evolution of psychology chapter 1
The evolution of cognitive psychology
The evolution of psychology chapter 1
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The Evolution of Cognitive Psychology
Definition of Cognition
Cognition is the mental process or faculty of acquiring knowledge by the use of perception, reasoning or intuition. This is the mental process of knowing, which including aspects such as; perception, judgment, attention, reasoning, producing language, remembering, understanding, decision making and solving problems. Cognition is generally defined as the mental process and activity used in perception, remembering and thinking.
Interdisciplinary Perspective
Cognitive psychology is vital because it’s a journey to understanding how people think and behave. The study of cognition also lends insights beyond psychology. Cognitive psychology is a key player within the interdisciplinary field of study termed cognitive science. Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary effort to understand the mind. It includes five disciplines, that lye at are the core of cognitive psychology (Gardner, 1985). Philosophy is the first discipline systematically to examine the mind, which helps to formulate and examine the fundamental questions that define the field. Neuroscience attempts to specify the relationship between mind and brain. Artificial intelligence addresses issues of mind by modeling human thought processes with computer hardware and software philosophy (Greenberg, Partridge, Weiss, & Pisula, 2004).
The field of linguistics investigates the structure of language and the specifics of language use and what they tell us about the mind. Anthropology explores the mind through quite a different lens the lens of culture. In an attempt to understand the mind cognitive science makes an effort to bring together research from the fields of neuro...
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...des the science of mental life, psychological science and memory in the area of cognitive psychology that studies the memory processes. Psychologists who study the cognitive process use psychophysical and experimental approaches in an effort to understand diagnoses and resolve problems regarding the mental processes.
References
Greenberg, G. Partridge, T., Weiss, E., and Pisula, W. (2004). Comparative psychology, a
new perspective for the 21" Century: Up the spiral staircase. Developmental Psychobiology,
44, 1-15.
Robinson-Riegler, G., and Robinson-Riegler, B. (2008). Cognitive psychology: Applying the science of the mind.ton, MA: Allyn and Bacon
According to Hutchison (2015), “Cognition can be defined as our conscious or preconscious thinking processes-the mental activities of which we are
References American Psychological Association. (2001) Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed). Washington, DC: McLaughlin & Reinking. A Child Called It. (1995)
One of the major differences between humans and animals is our ability to reason and differentiate our actions from our instincts (Barrett, 2011, p. 3). Justin Barrett further explains this distinction in the first chapter of his book, Cognitive Science Religion and Theology. He explains that cognitive science recognizes the uniqueness of the human mind and focuses on explaining the thinking processes that take place(Barrett, 2011, p. 5). This may seem similar to what the field of neuroscience aims to do but, cognitive science is not as interested with the biological functions of the brain. Instead of looking at physical structures Barrett writes, that cognitive science focuses on broader processes such as perception, attention, memory, reasoning and learning (Barrett, 2011, p. 7). All of these processes interact with each other to create the big questions asked in cognitive science. Some of these big underlying questions of cognitive science are explored in this first chapter, questions such as “What is innate?” or “How are mind and bodies
Gross, R (2010). Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour. 6th ed. London: Hodder Education. p188.
Passer, M., Smith, R., Holt, N., Bremner, A., Sutherland, E., & Vliek, M. (2009). Psychology; Science of Mind and Behaviour. (European Edition). New York.
Davis, S. F., & Palladino, J. J. (2003). Psychology. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
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
Smith, E. E. and Kosslyn, S. M. (2009). Cognitive psychology: Mind and brain. New Jersey: Pearson Education
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.
According to numerous references in the field of Psychology, a cognitive psychologist is an individual that studies topics such as thinking, problem-solving, learning, attention, memory, forgetting, and language acquisition, among several others. Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes, and its core focus is on how people acquire, process, and store information. While great research has been done within the field of psychology, there are individuals such as B.F. Skinner who criticize its strides, purposes, and research methods.
Keil, F. C. and Wilson, R. A. (1999) The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: The MIT Press
The cognitive viewpoint concentrates on the way individuals recognize prepare and recover information. Cognitive psychologists are intrigued by how memory functions how individuals take care of issues and settle on choices and comparable inquiries. (L.Burton, D.Westen, R. Kowalski, 2012. p.g.19)
Sternberg, R. J. (1999). Cognitive psychology (2nd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers
Sharkey, N. E. and R. Pfeifer. “Uncomfortable Bedfellows: Cognitive Psychology and AI.” Artificial Intelligence: Human Effects. M. Yazdani and A. Narayanan, eds. Chirchester: Ellis Horwood Limited, 1984. 163-172.
Goldstein, E. (2015). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting mind. Research, and everyday experience (4th edition). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning