Kasparov Was Able to Defeat Deep Blue

Kasparov was able to defeat Deep Blue primarily because of the nature of intelligence, which computers are actually limited in. Computers can reproduce logic and logical thinking -- they can analyze, consider future events, probability, and the like, but true intelligence is based on learning as one goes. It combines with different aspects of wisdom to induce prudence. For example, if a man and a machine were both standing outside and water started falling from the sky, basic intelligence would tell both that it was raining.

Wisdom is required to act on that information, and stand beneath a building to avoid getting wet. Computers are limited in their ability to "think" on the go, which is why Kasparov was able to beat Deep Blue. Analysis and observation of patients with brain damage can reveal much about the nature of cognition and how it takes place. Some of these observations can even present changes in the way that researchers view the process of cognition.

In addition to being used to describe thinking, cognition also refers to the way in which people perceive experiences, and what those experiences mean to them. The monitoring of people with brain damage has challenged conventional notions for how people internalize and respond to a variety of emotions. One of the key ways in which analyzing brain-damaged people can alter typical notions of the cognitive process is the fact that damaged areas can actually become restored.

Typical cognitive theory posits that the brain is fully formed relatively early on, and is in a constant state of decline thereafter. However, severely brain damaged people, such as those who are in a state of minimal consciousness, can regenerate their ability to perform cognitive processes by a therapeutic process related to gentle stimuli and patience (Hartke et al., 2011). This tells us the brain has regenerative prowess.

There are a number of eminent trends in the field of social psychology, some of which can produce sweeping changes both in this discipline and in numerous applications of it. One of these is the trend to give more and more credence to embodied cognition. This trend actually represents an ideological shift from centuries of previous research, which considered the mind and the body largely distinct and simply posited that the former controlled the latter.

Another trend that has emerged of late is psychobiology, which allows researchers to root perceptions and certain social behaviors in biological rudiments. Evolutionary psychology is another fairly popular trend within social psychology; this theory contends that traits of cognition and various processes have evolved due to adaptations, much like other adaptations noted by Charles Darwin. More than likely, embodied cognition will have the greatest impact on society, because it has the potential to revolutionize the way that people think -- and thus learn and work, as a result.

One of the more surprising social psychology theory found in Susan Fiske's book, Social Beings: Core Motives in Psychology is the notion of embodied cognition. Although this theory pertains to cognitive psychology just as much if not more so than social psychology, the ramifications for its social applications are manifold and intriguing. The basic notion behind this concept is that cognitive processes are affected by physiological ones, specifically.