Cognitive Psychology Definition Paper Essay

cognitive psychology is the study of intellectual processes surrounding learning, memory, perception, and thought. Though it is still a relatively new rebrinysal branch of psychology, its roots extend brook to Descartes who sought a way to inform how the musical theme worked, proposing the analogy of a hydraulic system of nerve function (Willingham, 2007, p. 26) after he discover animated statues in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It has been the restless pursuit of not only the head of how the approximation works simply also what exactly constituted the understanding that eventu eachy led to the assembleations of cognitive theory. As psychologists examined how mental processes produced appearance, it was evident a different approach would be needed. Cognitive psychology developed in the main from the inability of the carriageist approach to fully explain every form of demeanour. While there were umpteen things that drove its development, there were four main milestones in the development of cognitive psychology the inadequacies of conductism, the information processing sample and reckoner metaphor, soppy intelligence, and neuroscience.Each of these four milestones contributed signifi lottly to the search for a better model and the development of the cognitive approach, which we have today. behaviourism had many shortfalls with its primary one being that it excluded the effect of genetics entirely. It only accounted for what had been wise to(p) finished reward and penalty only. Questions were raised and answers were missing when examining the question through the lens of behavioristic psychology only. One bea where ethologists observed discrepancies were in fixed-action patterns and diminutive periods in animals. Fixed-action patterns were behaviors that received little to no reward or punishment in which the animals engaged in and critical period referred to a proper(postnominal) period of time in which if a behavior has not been learned, it may never be able to be learned. Another area in which behaviorism could not provide consistent answers was in wrangle acquisition. Behaviorism posited that language was learned or imitated as modeled by individual else. However, there were points that the behaviorist purview did not address.First, learning firenot account forthe rapid rate children acquire language. Second, there are an infinite number of sentences and all cannot be learned by imitation. Next, children consistently make errors in things equal verb tense. Since adults usually use correct form, this would not be learned by imitation. And last, children acquire their language skills even if adults do not correct their sentence structure (Language and Cognition, 2013). These points show there must be other explanations such as innate language skills to further explain the acquisition of language. These points seemed best explained by the cognitive perspective using theories, such as innate language centers. The second milestone, the information processing model, was very influential in travel closer to a cognitive approach through the computer metaphor. at that place were many attempts to find a way to explain how the mind worked, including a switchboard and solenoids but these did not fully explain how the mental processes (Willingham, 2007). In the computer analogy, the brain was give carened to the hardware of a computer and thought processes were likened to computer software.The mind is like a computer draws the connection amongst the gossip we receive from our environment to the mental processes that leads to the output of behavior. This analogy was revolutionary in the way psychologists studied the mine and led to the information processing model. With this model, psychologists began to remove questions about and use the scientific method to look at how the mind processed input resulting in behavior, instead of only the behavior itself. hokey intelligence was the third milesto ne and is defined as the ability of a computer or other machine to perform those activities that are unremarkably thought to require intelligence (Artificial intelligence, n.d.). In the 1950s, an artificial intelligence weapons platform was developed by Allen Newell and Herb Simon that proved theorems in formal system of logic using abstract constructs and representations. This A.I. program demonstrated sophisticated behavior, it solve problems similarly to how humans solved them, and it use abstract constructs (Willingham, 2007).Through the artificial intelligence, it became apparent to researchers that the human mind processed information much like a computer, using representations and processes and this approach could help give deeper insight into the processes of the mind and the resulting behavior. The last main milestone, neuroscience, is a branch (as neurophysiology) of science that deals with the anatomy, physiology,biochemistry, or molecular(a) biology of nerves and ner vous tissue and especially their relation to behavior and learning (m-w.com, n.d.). The focus is on the brain and its impact on behavior as well as habitual cognitive functions and the impact on the nervous system resulting from neurological, psychological, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Neuroscience began to show a clear connection between behavior and particularised structures of the brain. This connection revealed the biological side of behavior that could not be ignored. Studying behavior from this aspect allows a clear ascertain of a how disorders affect the brain itself initiating behavior and can be compared to normal behavior to gain greater perspective.Observation of an individuals behavior is important as it is an indicator and reflective of what is transpiring within the mental processes. The whole of an individuals behavior is found neither by placard only or an examination of ones thoughts only, but a combination of the two. The observance of behavior affords cog nitive psychologists the ability to bear witness and evaluate theories about behaviors and the hypotheses developed from them. Self-reporting can present errors that can be confirmed or rejected through the use of behavioral observation tested using empirical means. Additionally, cognitive psychologists cannot personally observe and broadsheet internal mental processes but in utilizing behavioral observation, the cognitive psychologist can arrive at logical conclusions of the existence of the behavior based on the observation of the behavior. In using the accepted standard of behavioral procedures, cognitive psychologists are able to examine the cognitive processes thought to be the acknowledgment without inferring unproven causes (Zentall, 2002).This removes much of the subjectivity that initially made the cognitive perspective suspect. Cognitive psychology developed the framework to test theories and further explain behavior using behavioral observation. Using the scientific me thod, the theory predicts the behavior to be expected if the said theory is provable. There are several(prenominal) tempos to take in order to this. First, develop alternative theories by having at least two possibilities to select from when testing the hypothesis. Second, derive specific predictions for each theory by providing a bridge between the discernible and unobservable in order to accurately confirm or disprove. And lastly, the compiling of sufficient data by which to compare the theories to validate both the methods and theresults. enquiry methods that are employed using behavioral observation to test cognitive theories are descriptive research, relational research, and experimental research. Descriptive research consists of naturalistic observation, case studies, and self-reporting, all of which are describing a behavior as found in the world (Willingham, 2007, p. 43).Relational research is much like its denote in that it is observing two or more behaviors and discer ning how they are related. Experimental research is testing what has been observed and determining if the theory can be confirmed or disproved using the scientific method. Using nonsubjective research methods, for example, there are an increasing number of cognitive models of misgiving disorders that seek to provide a complex integrative view of their underlie cognitive processes and structures (Eysenk, 2004). The study of cognitive psychology has been a critical step toward understanding how behavior develops. It has opened the doors to increased research that is measureable and theories that could be through empirical observation tested to confirm or disprove cognitive theories.This has granted us numerous insights into the connections between the brain and behavior and continues to be a tooth root of learning. Additionally, it has had positive impacts on behavioral treatments as shown by Eysenk, some of the theoretical and empirical contributions emerging from the cognitive approach have direct implications for remediation interventions (Eysenk, 2004). In the end, the ability to form and research theories has brought these two fields of behaviorism and cognitive perspective together through an understanding of the connection between observable behavior and mental processes. It has paved the way for artificial intelligence, which is used in almost every discipline, and neuroscience and promises to continue to improve treatments and shed visible radiation on behavior.