In the system of psychological knowledge, a special place is occupied by such a branch as cognitive psychology.
This direction can be called fairly modernwith interesting methods and theories. Cognitive psychology - what is it?
Concept
Under cognitive psychology understand the section of psychology, carrying out cognitive researchthat occur in the mind of the individual.
Its essence is to study man as a kind of computerwhose work is based on thinking and reason.
He perceives various signals from the outside world, perceives and converts them into information, processes, analyzes and organizes it.
The subject of cognitive psychology is the study of such elements as imagination, consciousness, attention, memory, sensation, as well as other thought processes.
History of
This direction originated not so long ago, in the middle of the 20th century. Researchers became interested in the individual's cognitive abilities and how they functioned.
As a fundamental act, the foundations of the human psyche singled out perception. Scientists conducted various experiments to identify the boundaries of the abilities of the mind, attention, memory.
The founders of cognitive psychology are psychologists. F. Hyder and L. Festinger.
But the further development of the direction was helped by a meeting held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956.
It addressed the functioning of memory and the formation of language. A little later was created Center for Cognitive Psychologywho studied the processes of thinking and cognition.
What is cognitive psychology, where did it come from and where is it going? Find out from the video:
Sections
The structure of modern cognitive-behavioral psychology include the following sections:
thinking, decision making;- perception;
- development;
- pattern recognition;
- speech;
- Attention;
- imagination;
- memory;
- intellect (and this includes natural and, to some extent, artificial).
thinking, decision making;The main provisions and methods
As the main position of cognitive psychology can be identified protest against behavioral ideas, the statement that human behavior comes from the mental abilities of the individual.
The main concepts of this direction are cognitive processes, which include imagination, memory, thinking. They form certain conceptual schemes with the help of which behavior is built.
The main method of cognitive psychology is the replacement of the personality construct.
In other words, this is a comparative analysis how different individuals perceive information from the external environment and subsequently interpret it. This method consists of the following steps:
- Introductory stage: the individual receives certain tools (for example, a diary), thanks to which it becomes possible to identify erroneous judgments and their causes.
Empirical stagewhen an individual with the help of a psychotherapist is working out the methods of correct correlation of various phenomena. That is, the arguments for and against are formulated, the advantages and disadvantages of behavior models are considered.- Pragmatic stage, the result of which becomes the individual's awareness of their own response.
Empirical stagewhen an individual with the help of a psychotherapist is working out the methods of correct correlation of various phenomena. That is, the arguments for and against are formulated, the advantages and disadvantages of behavior models are considered.There are other methods, the choice of which should be based on the type of mental disorder of human behavior. For example, methods of purposeful repetition, decentration, changing roles, or replacing emotions.
What ideas is studying and considering?
As noted earlier, the objects of study in cognitive psychology are various cognitive processes. She also considers the emotional sphere of the individual, the psychology of development and pattern recognition.
The basic idea is to study the cognitive processes of the human psyche, by analogy with the functions of the computing device.
In other words, computer performs a variety of operations on receiving, processing, storing and issuing information.
Adherents of cognitivism believe that the human mind works according to a similar concept and the cognitive functions of the psyche work according to a similar pattern.
Another idea is the phased processing of information in the human psyche. That is, all the stimuli coming from outside pass through a certain chain of transformations.
There is still idea of limiting volume information processing systems. This also implies the main direction of the activity of cognitive psychologists, which consists in the search for natural and most efficient methods of working with information that enters the individual psyche.
Famous Representatives
The emergence of this area contributed to the activity W. Neisser, who outlined his main points, and J. Miller, who is the founder of the Center for Cognitive Psychology.
Also among the most famous representatives of cognitive psychology are the following: J. Sperling, J. Bruner, R. Salso, S. Herbert, C. Pribram, A. Newell.
They made a significant contribution to the study of the laws of cognitive processes and cognition in general.
Models of attention
Attention problems are often investigated specifically in the field of cognitive psychology.
It was representatives of this industry that developed most interesting models of attention. The main of them include:
- selective attention patterns;
- attention as a perceptual effect;
- attention as a mental effort.
Selective
Selective attention patterns associated with names. D. Broadbent, C. Cherry.
The main idea of this theory is that the structure of information processing has some kind of bottleneck or filter, funnel.
The main subject of discussion of selective attention models is to identify the location of this filter (at which stage of information processing) and on what principles is the selection of information, that is, its selection.
Perceptual action
Attention as a perceptual action considered W. Neisserwho criticized the selective model.
He believed that attention is the focus of the main flow of activity related to information processing on a limited part of the cash input. That is, he defined it in type of active selection process.
Mental effort
Attention as a mental effort is also called a capacitive model. D. Kahneman.
He noted that there was a limitation in the ability of an individual to perform mental work.
By the attention of D. Kahneman understood some internal forcefor which resources are required. Thus, the act of attention depends to a greater degree neither on the desires of the individual, but on the objective complexity of the task set before him.
On metaphors and models of attention in cognitive psychology this video:
Cognitivism in social psychology: the pros and cons
Cognitivism occupies a significant place in the field of social psychology.
Its basic principle is to consider the social behavior of the individual. based on cognitive processes person
The direction of the study is the interaction between different cognitive structures, the existence of correspondences and inconsistencies between them.
In accordance with the theories of cognitive conformity, the main motivating factor of human behavior is balancing needs and compliance with the cognitive structures of the individual.
All of these theories are trying to explain the social behavior of the individual through the prism of cognitive abilities.
Their disadvantages include the fact that the idea that all actions and deeds are performed to form a connected picture of the world in the mind of an individual makes the theory methodologically vulnerable, since this formation is not connected with the real world.
Despite this, cognitivism in social psychology was fairly widespread. This can be explained by the fact that it emphasizes the special role of cognitive formations in explaining the social behavior of the individual.
It is necessary to note a certain inconsistency of this position and a complex range of contradictions, into which the cognitive approach falls.
Nevertheless, attention to the issues of rational behavior of the individual, the role of thinking and reason for explaining the surrounding world make this approach quite significant in social psychology.
So, cognitive psychology occupies an important place in the system of psychological sciences.
Its main provisions often used in other directionsFor example, social psychology, psychology of education, personality psychology.
Briefly about the cognitive direction in social psychology:
