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Cognitive Psychology Defined

In: Philosophy and Psychology

Submitted By 01202003
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Pages 5
Cognitive Psychology Defined
Desiree T. Lobato
Psy/360
March 26, 2012
Deborah Showers-Kelly

According to Cherry (2012), Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think, perceive, remember and learn. As part of the larger field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy and linguistics.
Cognitive psychology began to emerge during the 1950s, partly as a response to behaviorism (Mcleod, 2011). Critics of behaviorism noted that it failed to account for how internal processes impacted behavior. This period of time is sometimes referred to as the "cognitive revolution" as a wealth of research on topics such as information processing, language, memory and perception began to emerge. The core focus of cognitive psychology is on how people acquire, process and store information. There are numerous practical applications for cognitive research, such as improving memory, increasing decision-making accuracy and structuring educational curricula to enhance learning.
Until the 1950s, behaviorism was the dominant school of thought in psychology. Between 1950 and 1970, the tide began to shift against behavioral psychology to focus on topics such as attention, memory and problem-solving.
Cognitive psychology is different than behaviorism. Unlike behaviorism, which focuses only on observable behaviors, cognitive psychology is concerned with internal mental states. Because cognitive psychology touches on many other disciplines, this branch of psychology is frequently studied by people in a number of different fields.
One of the most influential theories from this school of thought was the stages of cognitive development theory proposed by Jean Piaget. The arrival of the computer gave cognitive psychology a metaphor and terminology to

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