Evolution of Cognitive Psychology: History and Key Concepts

What Is Cognition?

Cognition is a term that means "the process of thought." It has been at the very basis of science, philosophy, and cultural debate since societies came together to form groups that differentiated individuals and allowed some to ponder the eternal questions: How do humans think? Is what we think reality? How do we gather information? Cognitive thought, then, refers to a link of the mind with groups and organizations, the ability to conceptualize the unknowable, and the desire and ability to form groups based on what is possible rather than what is reality. In a sense, cognition is a way to understand and make sense of the world (Van Wagner, 2008).

Cognition occurs at various levels naturally — it is not something that is consciously processed; it is simply a function of the evolved human brain, trained through experience and stimulated to recognize culturally predisposed objects. For instance, humans are able to rapidly and accurately categorize, define, and explain natural scenes — a forest, a mountain, a meadow — all as part of the ability to survive. However, we do not fully understand how this representational mediating process works. We know which areas of the brain are active during this type of cognition and which neurochemicals may be present, but the science of understanding how one individual perceives an object differently from another is still relatively unknown (Green and Gelman, 2009).

Furthermore, when the human mind engages in active questioning, restructuring, or countering what it hears or sees — for example, listening to a lecture and questioning the validity of certain claims — a different type of cognition develops: a multilayered, fascinating tour of infinite varieties of "what ifs," the probable, the possible, and an amalgamation of unique experiences that are both individual and evolving simultaneously (Campbell and Mayer, 2008).

Thus we have the discipline within psychology that is concerned with the investigation of internal mental processes — visual processing, problem solving, language use and development, memory, and the development of intrinsic and unique thought, the ability to project into the abstract, and the entire realm of the imagination. Strict, contemporary cognitive theory posits that solutions to problems of this nature take the form of algorithms — rules that are not always completely understood but appear to be true or propose a solution — or heuristics — rules that are understood but do not guarantee a universal, replicable solution. Cognitive science differs from cognitive psychology in its utilization of algorithms intended to simulate human behavior as the basis of research — for example, imprinting artificial intelligence onto computers (Balota and Marsh, 2004). Cognitive psychology is more concerned with the way solutions are found in the human brain, whether through forethought, insight, learned behavior, or a sudden awareness of unique and interwoven relationships. It also helps focus on the ways in which cultural and historical differences among human populations reveal so many similarities in median thought patterns, structures, and ideas (Rhodes et al., 2009).

Cognitive Psychology as an Interdisciplinary Field

One fascinating aspect of cognitive psychology is that it is part of the human experience, carried out without pressure or preconception, every day of our lives. It is also interdisciplinary in approach — and not only in relation to subdisciplines of psychology. Cognitive psychology helps explain the way cultures act or acted (anthropology); the various ways society and culture form and the normative behaviors therein (sociology); how humans choose to think about themselves and confront individual problems such as existence, truth, knowledge, and the future (philosophy); the manner in which humans lived, what they wrote, and how they thought (history); and the description and analysis of humans as political animals — who gets what, when, and how (political science). Within the discipline of psychology itself, the study of cognition is central to almost every branch and subdiscipline, since by definition psychology is the systematic study of the mind — encompassing perception, cognition, motivation, behavior, and more (Goldstein, 2007).

References

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