...Cognitive Psychology as a Discipline Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental process including how people think, perceive, remember and learn. Cognitive psychology with respect to cognitive science is related to other disciplines such as neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics. The core focus of cognitive psychology is on how people acquire, process and store information. There are four key milestones in the development of psychology as a discipline such as the Sigmund Freud’s, theory of personality, Carl Jung’s theory of the Collective Unconscious, Alfred Adler’s and Humanistic Psychology and Albert Ellis’ Rational Emotive Theory (RET). Sigmund Freud’s, personality theory encourage scientist to look into the unseen, unconscious and underlying factors that influence a person’s thinking pattern and behavior. Freud’s personality was centered on the unconscious. Freud’s key concepts on defense mechanism, today are helpful in properly assessing and working together with patients and developing individualized treatment plans based on the needs of the individual (IEP 2005) Carl Jung’s theory which derived from Freud’s with some significant differences. Jung divided the components of personality into the conscious and unconscious mind. Jung’s theory was different from Freud’s whereby it was made up of the Personal Unconscious and the Collective Unconscious which contained emotions that are blocked from consciousness but that can resurface with...
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...Introduction The history of psychology dates as far back as ancient Greece. The philosophers since the 4th century BCE have been trying to define exactly what it is that makes us, us. Plato proposed four groupings (artistic, sensible, intuitive, reasoning) and Aristotle hypothesized four factors (iconic i.e. artistic, pistic i.e. common sence, noetic i.e. intuition and dianoetic i.e. logic) and contributed to ones social order in society. (blog. tiptaplab.com). Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that governs the personality and its variations between individuals. The areas of focus include; construction of a coherent picture of the individual and their major psychological processes, investigation of individual psychological differences, investigation of human nature and psychological similarities between individuals. Personality also refers to someone’s public image (blog. tiptaplab.com). The word personality is a Latin word personae, which is the mask actors wore in ancient Greek plays. They changed personae to let audience know they were assuming different roles (www.reading fanatic.com). Key contributors of Personality There are several contributors to school of personality psychology who explore personality in different contexts. They include Gordon Alport, who believed personality is something within an individual that leads to characteristics of behaviour and thought. Carl Rogers on the other hand thought it is a self organized consistent pattern...
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...Cognitive Psychology Definition Paper PSY/360 July 21, 20xx xxxx Cognitive Psychology Definition Paper Defining Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology focuses on the way human’s process information, looking at how we treat information that comes in to the person, better known as stimuli, and how this treatment leads to responses (McLeod, 2007). Cognitive psychologists study internal processes including perception, attention, language, memory and thinking. In ancient Greece, cognitive psychology created the need to understand how the mind works and what processes are involved in learning. Philosophers and early psychologists studied the mind, however the ancient Greeks knew little about the human mind and the mental process. Cognitive psychology is the field of psychology that emphasizes the study of mental processes (Galotti, 2014). These processes include thinking, language, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, judging and decision making. Cognitive psychology concluded that humans were not pushed or pulled by environmental factors. Cognitive psychology also studied how people view and understand the world. Subjects wanted to describe the patterns and irregularities during the operation of his or her mind. There were several key milestones in the development of cognitive psychology. Key Milestones in the Development of Cognitive Psychology Developmental milestones began in ancient Greek times have set a precedent in today’s views of cognitive psychology. Descartes...
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...Literature review of Piaget’s theory of developmental psychology (1954), object permanence and a critical evaluation of Piaget’s theory in relation to recent studies that show different results to that which Piaget originally gathered and based his stage theory on. Introduction The work of Jean Piaget (1896-1980), has made him go down in history as one of the most instrumental and influential figures in the history of psychology to date. His contribution to the world of psychology is based around the field of developmental psychology. He transformed this area of psychology and laid the foundations upon which subsequent research can be based around and undercover more of the truth behind the cognitive development of infants. Piaget believed that the key to understanding children’s thought processes is not whether they get the answer right, rather the key lies within how they arrived at the answer (Holt et. al, 2012). Piaget stated that our brains hold schemas, which are responsible for organising our patterns of thoughts and actions (Holt et al., 2012). Building on this mental framework he introduced the concepts of assimilation and accommodation which helped lay down the foundation upon which he could build his work on. Piaget committed 50 years of his life to study the intellectual development that occurs in children which ultimately led to the development of his well-acclaimed staged theory of cognitive development (Hock, 2009). His theory is based on the idea that four...
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...Outline of Portfolio Josephine Yadao Capstone Course in Psychology PSY/490 Mr. Darriel Mc Whorter December 18, 2014 Psychological theories are the foundation of psychology they give us an understanding of the many aspects within this science. Theories help to explain the connection between the mind and body. Theories teach psychologists and therapists how to help others with mental illnesses. Behaviorism Behaviorism is mental activities, such as emotions that may motivate an individual to act in a certain way. An example, such as when an individual is in pain, it is likely that he or she you will scream, cry, or yell in pain. Behaviorism became very popular and is just one of the many schools of thought within psychology developed to explore and explain observable behavior. Behaviorism as described by its founders is the subject matter of human psychology and the behavior of animals and humans. Behaviorism argued that consciousness is neither definite nor a useable concept and that only the observable behavior of the animal or human being studied was the basis of psychology. The most influential people in behaviorism are considered to be: Watson, Skinner, and Pavlov. These scientists pioneered the study of behavior with experiments, and expanded upon the knowledge already existing from previous notable scientists. However, the problem with this school of thought is that it suggests that only observable behaviors should be studied, since internal states such as cognitions...
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...Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology is a scientific examination of a person’s cognition. It focuses on how we distinguish, learn, and retain information, think, rationale, and respond. There are sub domains of cognitive psychology which are insight, attention, knowledge, memory, idea formation, way of thinking, judgment, choice making, predicament solving, and language dispensation. Perception is how we understand things around us. Attention is how we decide what is significant to us when offered with numerous things. Learning helps to enhance the response that we have to our surroundings. Memory is the capability at which we obtain things. Concept configuration is the ability to systematize our many diverse perceptions. Conclusion, decisions, reasoning, and predicament solving are how we shape the choices that we create and how we believe about the choices that we create. Language insight is how we understand the things we say and hear (Scholarepedia, 2011). Perception is one of the main landmarks of cognitive psychology. Perception is how people deliberately distinguish objects. From a visual point of view insight would include recognizing the form of an object, dimension, and distance away from the person. Perception is how a person gains access to information about the adjacent environment right away (Willingham, 2007). George Berkeley discussed insight as being a fraction of the empiricist versus nativist dispute. Berkeley happened to be an intense empiricist. He...
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...Introduction Socrates’s famous statement “know thyself” gives an explanation for history and connecting with cognitive psychology and all of its’ different areas of study. “The single most important reason to study history is that the present time we are living in cannot be understood without knowing something about the past-how the present came to be” (Goodwin, 2008). We have to understand the first theories and concepts where psychology came to being. How did psychologies’ first pioneers approach and solve the main concerns of their time? People have to recognize psychologies’ “evolving history” (Goodwin, 2008). Knowing psychologies’ history and origins helps us to be aware of complications in the future. To “know thyself” in psychology is to understand psychologies beginnings, strengths, weaknesses, achievement, down falls, disciplines and so much more. This essay will take a look at four key milestones in the development of cognitive psychology. The four key milestones that will be viewed are behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanism and cognitive psychology. Along with the four key milestones this document will also go over the major importance of behavioral observation. Behaviorism Behavior is defined as a way in which on functions in “response to stimulation” (Merriam-Webster, 2012). Founder of behaviorism John B. Watson is well known for his statement “Give me a dozen healthy infants well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee...
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...Social Psychology Psych/555 April 8, 2013 Dr. Anthony Social Psychology Human social behavior has been studied for the last 100 years, giving social scientists insight into the influence of thought on behavior. In this endeavor, scientists have also provided theories on the human need to obtain and maintain close attachments as well as the influence of human interaction. The development of social psychology as a discipline has provided insight into the precarious nature of human behavior and social interaction. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the conceptual foundations of social psychology. Within this analysis will be the definition of social psychology, an analysis of its four key characteristics, an explanation of the concept of situationism, and identification of the five core social motives and how these concepts affect the field of social psychology. Social Psychology Social psychology can be defined as the study of how an individual’s situations influence his or her behavior, emotions, thoughts, etc., with particular focus on how individuals perceive as well as affect on another (Myers, 2008). Furthermore, social psychology primarily focuses on social relations, social influence, and social thinking. According to Myers (2008), social relations refers to certain attributes such as aggression, helping others, prejudice, and attraction and intimacy. Social influence comprises factors such as pressure to conform, biology and culture, groups of people, and...
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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...
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...Paper name Psy 360 your name Instructor date Freud and Jung: Early Psychoanalytic Theories Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were two influential theorists in psychology (Nystul, M., 2005). Freud was considered the father of psychology and believed that human behavior was the result of unconscious conflict deep in the mind of individuals (Nystul, M., 2005). Jung’s theory developed directly out of Freud’s psychoanalytic approach; however he refuted several of Freud’s key points and placed an even greater emphasis on the unconscious. Freud and Jung were the key figures of the psychoanalytic approach to psychology; however their theories differed on several key points (Nystul, M., 2005). Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was the seed for many subsequent theorists’ work. His main assertion was that human behavior and personality derived from the unconscious conflict that arose in individuals’ unconscious (Fayek, 2005). He postulated that the unconscious was a combination of the id, which was the primal drive for all human needs (e.g., sex, hunger), the superego, which could be likened to the internalization of societal values and standards (e.g., the conscience), and the moderating ego that was the rational part of thought that controlled the impulses of the id and superego. Anxiety arose when individuals were confronted with fears of danger within reality (Shill, 2004). Neurotic anxiety occurred when individuals were confronted with dangers that arose in childhood, and can be connected...
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...Paper name Psy 360 your name Instructor date Freud and Jung: Early Psychoanalytic Theories Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were two influential theorists in psychology (Nystul, M., 2005). Freud was considered the father of psychology and believed that human behavior was the result of unconscious conflict deep in the mind of individuals (Nystul, M., 2005). Jung’s theory developed directly out of Freud’s psychoanalytic approach; however he refuted several of Freud’s key points and placed an even greater emphasis on the unconscious. Freud and Jung were the key figures of the psychoanalytic approach to psychology; however their theories differed on several key points (Nystul, M., 2005). Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was the seed for many subsequent theorists’ work. His main assertion was that human behavior and personality derived from the unconscious conflict that arose in individuals’ unconscious (Fayek, 2005). He postulated that the unconscious was a combination of the id, which was the primal drive for all human needs (e.g., sex, hunger), the superego, which could be likened to the internalization of societal values and standards (e.g., the conscience), and the moderating ego that was the rational part of thought that controlled the impulses of the id and superego. Anxiety arose when individuals were confronted with fears of danger within reality (Shill, 2004). Neurotic anxiety occurred when individuals were confronted with dangers that arose in childhood, and can be connected...
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...Define Cognitive Psychology Cognitive Psychology Psychology itself was viewed as a part of philosophy in the earlier days, until Wilhelm Wundt established the first laboratory for psychological research in 1879 at Leipzig University. Wundt introduced scientific methods into psychological research. The “Father of Modern Cognitive Psychology”; Ulric Neisser, was born in Kiel, Germany December 08, 1928. Neisser changed the path of psychology. He inspired a group of psychologist in the direction of a field named by his first book, Cognitive Psychology (1967). Cognitive psychology is the study of the mind and the way it works. It is the study of the mental processes, such as problem solving, perception, speaking, thinking, and remembering. It includes mental representations and the use of abstract hypotheses to find relationships between brain structures and their functions. To help us understand how cognitive theories grew into a psychological science, it is essential to understand what milestones assisted in the development of its establishment. One key milestone for the development of cognitive psychology is neuroscience. It can examine how the brain and nervous system regulates behaviors, it can also account for intelligent behavior through the use of abstract constructs, hypothetical representations, and processes (Whitaker, 2013). Neuroscientist also established absolute links between structures of the brain and functioning. Through neuroscience, cognitive psychologist...
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...Functionalism Functionalism has the most influence of any theory in contemporary psychology. Psychological functionalism attempts to describe thoughts and what they do without asking how they do it. For functionalists, the mind resembles a computer, and to understand its processes, you need to look at the software -- what it does -- without having to understand the hardware -- the why and how underlying it. Gestalt Psychology According to Gestalt psychologists, the human mind works by interpreting data through various laws, rules or organizing principles, turning partial information into a whole. For example, your mind might interpret a series of lines as a square, even though it has no complete lines; your mind fills in the gaps. Gestalt psychotherapists apply this logic to problem-solving to help patients. Psychoanalysis Psychoanalytic theory, which originated with Sigmund Freud, explains human behavior by looking at the subconscious mind. Freud suggested that the instinct to pursue pleasure, which he described as sexual in nature, lies at the root of human development. To Freud, even the development of children hinged on key stages in discovering this pleasure, through acts such as feeding at the mother's breast and defecating, and he treated abnormal behavior in adults by addressing these stages. Behaviorism In the 1950s, B.F. Skinner carried out experiments with animals, such as rats and pigeons, demonstrating that they repeated certain behaviors if they associated...
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...EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: A DEFINITION AND KEY CONCEPTS It seems too simple to say that educational psychology is the psychology of learning and teaching, and yet a majority of educational psychologists spend their time studying ways to describe and improve learning and teaching. After reviewing the historical literature in educational psychology, Glover and Ronning (1987, p. 14) suggested that educational psychology includes topics that span human development, individual differences, measurement, learning, and motivation and is both a data-driven and a theory-driven discipline. Thus, our definition of educational psychology is the application of psychology and psychological methods to the study of development, learning, motivation, instruction, assessment, and related issues that influence the interaction of teaching and learning. This definition is broad because the potential applications of educational psychology to the learning process are immense! Today educational psychology is a vital discipline that is contributing to the education of teachers and learners. For example, Jerome Bruner, an enduring figure in educational psychology, recently noted the need to rethink our ideas of development, teaching, and learning and the interactions among them. Specifically, Bruner (1996) urged educators and psychologists to see children as thinkers, and stated: No less than the adult, the child is thought of as holding more or less coherent "theories" not only about the world but about...
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...Cognitive psychology was introduced when there were flaws found in the areas of behaviorism (Galotti, 2014). The field of behaviorism began moving their concerns towards observable behaviors instead of focusing on the mind (Galotti, 2014). Since this was occurring cognitive psychology was born. This aspect of psychology began emphasizing on how the mind thinks and functions (Galotti, 2014). For instance, cognitive psychology encompasses areas of learning, memory, attention, perception, reasoning, language, conceptual development, and decision making (Galotti, 2014). It is defined as the scientific study of mental processing (Galotti, 2014). Cognitive psychology concentrates on how an individual stores, processes, acquires, and interprets the world around them. And it also tries to classify certain behaviors that are presented through different characteristics (Willingham, 2007). Once this area of psychology was introduced it brought back the importance of studying the mind. In the next following sections they will cover the key milestones in the development of cognitive psychology and the importance of behavioral observation in this field. Key milestones in the development of cognitive psychology There were four key milestones that had a hand in developing cognitive psychology. The milestones were: neuroscience, information processing model, artificial intelligence, and the criticism of behaviorism (Carley, 2012). The criticism that behaviorism received was...
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