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Cognitive Psychology Definition

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Cognitive Psychology Definition Paper

PSY/340 Cognitive Psychology

Dr.

07/14/2014

The cognition process study is an integral part of getting familiar with the human nature. Considering the topic of human nature, the most interesting thing to discover is the way people behave themselves, what is ascribed to the study of behavioral psychology. Nevertheless, the way people behave is fully dependent upon what people learn, what do they read, which information they process, and how does it take place. A human's behavior in different situations is just as set of theoretical and practical knowledge received in the process of cognition. All the questions regarding this topic are put under deep scrutiny by the branch of psychology, which is called the cognitive psychology. This kind of psychological studies is one of the most important, as it examines and researches not only what and who we are, but how do we acquire the features we possess.

The 18th century was a harsh time for the development of psychology in the role of a scientific discipline. Towards the end of the 19th century psychology was dominated by an approach known as introspectionism. The basis of introspectionism was to study mental processes via a method of subjective self-examination. (Parkin, 2000, p. 1) In the middle of the 20th century, three general movements arose to inspire and shape a cognitive psychology. First of all, after the introduction of new warfare technologies, a constant need of better understanding of human cognitive processes became a central one. Secondly, the development of computer technologies drew new parallels between human thoughts and computers' functionality. It opened an entirely new area of psychological thoughts. The concept of artificial intelligence was developed by Herbert Simon, and Allen Newell.

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