Essay on "Evolution of Cognitive Psychology as a Discipline"

Essay 4 pages (1131 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Evolution of Cognitive Psychology as a Discipline

The advancement of cognitive psychology since the era of Thomas Aquinas, who was the foremost person to divide behavior into two distinct areas; cognitive and affective has tremendously evolved. The lodging of research on the field provides practitioners a clear view of the subject matter. Cognitive psychology has been existent for centuries in diverse forms based on its defining culture (Eysenck & Keane, 2005). As science progressively gets sophisticated, numerous theories and beliefs have fallen aside in favor of more legitimate evidence towards contemporary developments in the discipline. Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes. During the nineteenth century, cognitive psychology became an emergent theme of concern in the discipline of psychology. This epoch saw numerous psychologists and scholars concentrate on the study of human behavior as it emanates from internal states such as moods, thoughts and feelings (Goldstein, 2008).

Cognition

Cognition is the method of obtaining, keeping, using and applying knowledge and intelligence. It is typically the science of knowing. Cognition means all the processes through which the sensory input goes under transformation, reduction, elaboration, storage, recovery, and eventual application. Cognition is inclusive of the processing of information (Eysenck & Keane, 2005). It slightly excludes emotions processing. Cognition inculcates all mental processes. For instance, gaining knowledge, comprehending, recalling, assuming, analytical problem solving, and perceiving are all components of cognition.

Cognitive psychologists examine behavior as an avenue to decipher the underlying mental activities, same to how physicists decipher the existent gravitational force referencing from object behaviors on earth. Studying mental activities covers a large ground. They include an understanding of languages, problem solving, remembrance, attention and making decisions as expounded.

Since time immemorial, cognitive psychologists have applied the above concept applying scientific methods as their fundamental tool. These researchers assume that the mind is a machine type from where they elucidate how the machine works internally. Thinking is a process that all people undertake daily. This makes cognitive psychology a pertinent discipline (Goldstein, 2008).

Such a comprehensive definition shows that cognition encompasses everything all human beings would do; all psychological experiences are cognitive experiences. Though cognitive psychology relates to all human activities rather than segments, the apprehension is that it originates from a specific point-of-view yet other viewpoints are overtly necessary and justifiable.

The Interdisciplinary Perspective & Emergence of Cognitive Psychology

Being an essential part of psychology as a whole, cognitive psychology is also a component of the general interdisciplinary discipline of cognitive science. Cognitive science is the cross-disciplinary examination of intellect and psyche. It appreciates various fields such as neuroscience, anthropology, linguistics, philosophy and psychology (Eysenck & Keane, 2005). These other fields have had a consummate influence on cognitive psychology as it has influenced them.

These disciplines apply cognition based on psychology. Cognitive psychology is the interdisciplinary field that scholars apply to understand the mind. Researchers derive their conclusions from experiments. All the related fields share the same factors such as memory, attention, thinking and linguistics. This makes cognitive psychology an interdisciplinary discipline.

Behaviorism was the top approach within psychology, however it may not explicate on the acquisition and application of language. Noam Chomsky revolutionized the discipline of linguistics with his notions and was extremely influential in querying simple and one-dimensional behaviorist clarifications on the behavior of language (Goldstein, 2008). Philosophical matters such as the consciousness and nature of the mind have taxed renowned thinkers for… READ MORE

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