Cognitive Psychology
Define cognitive psychology and describe the domains of cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is the science of how we think. It’s
concerned with our inner mental processes such as attention, perception,
memory, action planning, and language. Each of these components are pivotal in
forming who we are and how we behave. The thoughts related to these concepts
can be conscious or nonconscious – we might consciously make an effort to focus
our attention on a lecture for example, but the light flickering in the room
could trigger a nonconscious shift elsewhere. Many cognitive psychologists [1]
refer to this field as encompassing both the traditional cognitive psychology
approach, and also cognitive neuroscience.
MPC 001 Solved Assignment 2021-22 Free Cognitive neuroscience is a field that uses neuroimaging
methods to examine cognitive processes – it has many overlaps with cognitive
psychology, takes a similar approach and worldview, but offers a route to
visualize the brain activity that is associated with these inner thoughts.
Cognitive psychology also has many overlaps with cognitive neuropsychology
(primarily concerned with the effects of brain damage on cognition) and to an
extent, with computational neuroscience (concerned with creating computational
models of brain function).
To really understand the basis for these overlaps, it’s
important to consider the context and time in which cognitive psychology
emerged. Starting as a disciple in the 1950’s, the field was in some sense a
reaction to the dominant psychology research approach at the time – behavioral
psychology (a topic we’ve covered before in a previous blog post).
MPC 001 Solved Assignment 2021-22 Free Behavioral psychology starts with the precept that all human
behavior is learned and adaptable to the context and environment it’s in.
Behavior can be reinforced or punished in various ways, leading to increases or
decreases of certain actions. As life progresses, a set of behaviors is
ultimately shaped by these experiences giving rise to a multifaceted human with
varying interests, desires, pursuits, skills, and habits. Cognitive psychology
on the other hand essentially assumes more agency – thoughts and feelings are
seen as more active in the process of behavior formation. Individuals are
perceived to process thoughts that determine if and how behaviors are to be
carried out (rather than being seen as a more passive recipient and producer of
experiences or behavior).
This paradigm shift, from a primarily behaviorist view to a
primarily cognitivist view, has multiple triggers and it is difficult to single
out a single source. However, some crucial influences can be found in the
emergence and development of information theory (a formalization of information
communication that has similarities with the cognitive approach) [2], and Noam
Chomsky’s devastating critique of behaviorism. Information theory was – and
remains – important as it formalizes how information communication occurs. The
extent of influence and reach of this theory is difficult to overstate – almost
any domain that features the transmission of information (be it signalling in
the brain, genetics, physics, and beyond) has been influenced by information
theory in some way.
Information theory emerged hand-in-hand with the most
important invention of modern times – that of the computer. The emergence of
the computer invited parallels (both in the popular and scientific imagination)
to the way in which the brain processes the world – a logical breakdown of
inputs, outputs, storage, and processing were easily compared with stimuli /
the environment, behavior, memory, and cognition, respectively. This helped
give rise to cognitive psychology by considering the brain as a computational
device, the rules of which could be formalized, reduced, and understood. While
behaviorism also followed a reductionist approach, it largely avoided (or
downplayed the importance of) the process and impact of inner thoughts.
MPC 001 Solved Assignment 2021-22 Free This section will provide an overview of the major domains
of psychology today, as well as some additional sub-fields and content areas.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive listing, but it will provide insight into
the major areas of research and practice of modernday psychologists. You’ll
come to see that while psychology is defined as the study of the mind and
behavior, there are many different types of psychologists who emphasize and
apply psychological principles in various ways.
As mentioned in your previous reading, the cognitive
revolution created an impetus for psychologists to focus their attention on
better understanding the mind and mental processes that underlie behavior.
Thus, cognitive psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on studying
cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and our
actions. Like biological psychology, cognitive psychology is broad in its scope
and often involves collaborations among people from a diverse range of disciplinary
backgrounds.
This has led some to coin the term cognitive science to
describe the interdisciplinary nature of this area of research (Miller, 2003).
Cognitive psychologists have research interests that span a spectrum of topics,
ranging from attention to problem solving to language to memory. The approaches
used in studying these topics are equally diverse. The bulk of content coverage
on cognitive psychology will be covered in the modules in this text on
thinking, intelligence, and memory. But given its diversity, various concepts
related to cognitive psychology will be covered in other sections such as
lifespan development, social psychology, and therapy. For example, imagine that
a woman is diagnosed with depression. What is the cause of the depression? Is
it her biology or chemical imbalances in her brain? Evolutionary
predispositions? Perhaps it is caused by experiences in her past, or something
else that triggered a downward spiral of emotions? Or maybe it is caused by
social factors, or cultural expectations? All of these things could, in fact,
play a role in her depression.
MPC 001 Solved Assignment 2021-22 Free In this section, you’ll see how psychologists analyze
behavior from a variety of perspectives and better understand the breadth of
psychology. Traditionally, cognitive psychology includes human perception,
attention, learning, memory, concept formation, reasoning, judgment and
decision-making, problem solving, and language processing. For some, social and
cultural factors, emotion, consciousness, animal cognition, evolutionary
approaches have also become part of cognitive psychology.
Cognitive psychology is the scientific investigation of
human cognition, that is, all our mental abilities – perceiving, learning,
remembering, thinking, reasoning, and understanding. The term “cognition” stems
from the Latin word “ cognoscere” or "to know". Fundamentally,
cognitive psychology studies how people acquire and apply knowledge or
information. It is closely related to the highly interdisciplinary cognitive
science and influenced by artificial intelligence, computer science,
philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, biology, physics, and neuroscience.
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