Essay about The Development of Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Psychology is your thought process. Our brains work in many ways and when dealing with information theirs a process that individuals go through to store, process, retrieve, and problem solve information. Our brain is like a computer with different functioning systems that gives you direction, teach you purpose and help you to master skills. As we grow and learn we are then able to store all this information and relate it to everything we do. Going back to the history of cognitive psychology from the 18th to 19th century began with the term psychology beginning and then merging to a discipline focused in hypotheses and data.

The study of Cognitive theories has many different aspects that have been debated many years ago. Developmental psychologists try to explain cognitive development approaches which describe the process of human 's thought. One of the developmental psychologist who studied on the area of cognitive was Jean Piaget. Jean Piaget a Swiss psychologist was the first developmental researcher who has extensive research on cognitive development. In addition, the revolution of Jean Piaget’s cognitive theory has changed the development psychology forever. In fact, although this theory is one of the most influential theories that have had a major impact on child’s cognitive development, many developmental psychologist has been criticized it as well(Miller,2007). Therefore, the limitations of this theory made the developmental psychologists thinking of information processing theory might complete Piaget’s Theory(Miller,2007). Information processing theory is another theory that was engaged in the era of cognitive development. It is possible to better understand Piaget theory and Information Processing theory by comparing several important aspects of developmental psychology: nature of humans, quantitative or qualitative, and nature or nurture.

There were countless pivotal events that occurred in the 1960’s that contributed to the current popularity of experimental cognitive psychology. Miller, Galanter, and Pribram published Plans and the Structure of Behavior which explained that concepts such as information feedback could explain human behavior that is goal-directed. Additionally, Miller and Bruner originated a Center for Cognitive Studies to promote research and thoughts. Miller also published articles such as Some Psychological Studies of Grammar (1962) and Psychology: The Science of Mental Life (1962). In 1969, Miller was appointed president of the APA. Further, cognitive psychology was finally mature enough to have courses and textbooks specifically designed for it and Neisser’s

Despite this persistent interest in the human thought process, Cognition has been nearly impossible to study because of it's non-physical nature. Only recent technological advances have allowed for quantifiable, information and academic study in the field of cognitive neuroscience.

The approach of using cognitive and knowledge development creates the mental process of attention, memory, producing and understanding the process of learning (Smith, 2002). The three different cognitivist theories, Cognitive Information Processing (CIP), Piaget's Theory and Perspective of Interactional Theories of Cognitive Development helps capture the significants of cognitive and knowledge development in capturing the true meaning critical thinking. Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) develops the approach of problem solving and decision making. The concepts of cognitive information processing provides the content of effective decision making including being knowledgeable about the content of personal human values, interest, skills and preference (Peterson, 2008). Piaget's theory develops the idea of formal operational stage of development. Piaget's theory of cognitive

Examines how language develops from infancy into adulthood. Focuses on the modularity debate of how language is organized in the brain. Some theorize that language is domain-specific in that the brain has processes dedicated to the task of language learning and comprehension. Others focus on a domain-general theory for language learning where the processes used to learn language are the same processes used in other situations such as problem solving.

The patriarch of cognitive theory was Jean Piaget(1896-1980). Piaget was a biologist, who became interested in human thinking while working to evaluate the results of child intelligence tests.  As Piaget worked he noted the correlation between the child's age and the type of error they made. Intrigued by the discovery that certain errors occurred predictably at certain age, he began to focus his time and energy to the further investigation of his findings. Starting with his children and moving on to other students, Piaget developed what is known as the Cognitive theory, a behaviorism theory which emphasizes the structure and development of thought

Language is an important component in discussing cognitive psychology. There are many different aspects to language that can be broken down to better understand its functions. Language can be defined as “An organized way to combine words to communicate” (O’Brien, lecture notes 2014). In addition language is a communication system that is unique to humans. It is also something that is learned as opposed to being biologically inherited (O’Brien, lecture notes, 2014).

Cognitive science refers to the scientific study of the mind of a human being and its processes. It explores the nature of the mind and its cognition purpose. Scientists study the brain’s behavior with the aim of learning how the nervous system works, processes, and transforms information (Clark, 2013). Faculties of concern to researchers are perception, attention, memory, reasoning, and emotions. The Robots Rebellion: Finding meaning in the age of Darwin by Keith E. Stanovich attempts to reunite a commitment to natural selection with the rational view that human beings are freely deliberating driving forces that are in charge of some of their actions.

For humans, Language is the prime method of communication, it is a huge achievement of the human species, it is something that all humans can do, (whether that be verbal, gestures, or symbols). Oral Language It gives voice to the thinking that surrounds learning experiences and leads to the construction of concepts and the generation of new knowledge (Fellows 2014). With this achievement in mind, there are many theories that have been proposed on how we acquire language, some take the naturistic approach and propose that the capacity for language is innate and built directly into the human brain, which matures just like an arm on the body. Then there is the Nurtured approach that by which we learn the language from being social beings with intense human need for communication.

Cognitive development theories are the development of thought processes and how these thought processes influence our understanding of the world around us. A major figure in cognitive development theory is Jean Piaget. He transformed the way we look at child development by introducing the idea that children think differently than adults. Piaget 's stages of cognitive development look at the sequential steps that take place in children 's intellectual development. Jean Piaget’s (1896–1980) work paid particular

Dating back 65000 years, Aborigines have had the longest continuous culture. The Aborigines believed and lived in the ‘Dreamtime’. The ‘dreamtime’ refers to the time when land and humans were created, and when ancestors and spirits came to earth and created everything. Every tribe had their own dreamtime and was passed down through storytelling. The Aborigines connection was either through the Wandjina or the rainbow serpent depending on the tribe. For the Aboriginals the world is sacred and has to be honoured. For the Aborigines everything is related to everything else therefore man was related to fellow man, animals, stars and the cosmos (Bowles, 2010). Even the men and women were equal because they were equally divine. The Aborigines

Cognition is the “science” term for "the process of thought.” Its usage varies in different ways in accordance with different disciplines: For example, in psychology and cognitive science, it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological makeup. It addresses the questions of how psychological/cognitive functions are produced by the neural circuitry. Cognitive psychology is the bases for most learning theories today, so it has made its mark to never be erased. This work would emphasize its impact and show its relevance, so consider the

Cognitive psychology is a modern school of psychology that departs from the traditional view of psychology as primarily a function of responses to stimuli and patterns of conditioned responses. It does not reject the behaviorist school of psychology as much as it expands its scope to include elements of responses and behavior that are not fully addressed by behaviorism (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2009). Cognitive psychology appreciates the value of observational data and empirical or "scientific" analysis but rejects the introspection-oriented methods relied upon within Freudian psychodynamic psychology. Generally, cognitive theory suggests that perception and corresponding external behavioral responses are dictated by a much more complex set of variables than cause and effect or the one-dimensional focus of classical conditioning (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2009). It incorporates internal states of mind as well as subjective variables such as social learning and belief, the cumulative impact of previous experiences, individual desires and perspective, and personal motivation. It also emphasizes the significance of differences in brain structure and function from individual to individual as elements that contribute to the perceptions and responses of different individuals to experiences that are objectively similar (Pinker, 2002).

Cognition is the mental actions of gaining knowledge, processing and understanding through perception, experience, and the senses. The notion of cognition is closely related to such intellectual concepts as mind, reasoning, perception, intelligence, and learning that outline numerous capabilities of human mind and expected properties of synthetic intelligence. Therefore, cognitive science has been brought out to examine what cognition is, what it does and how it works. According to Paul Thagard (2010), cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of human mind and intelligence. The aim is to understand the phenomena of thinking and the relationship between brain and mind. In general, cognitive science can be classified into six major applied branches: linguistics, artificial intelligence, philosophy, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology and cognitive neuroscience (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).