COGNITIVE

PSYCHOLOGY

Lecture 2

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History of
Cognitive Psychology
 Background
Intellectual History
• Cognitive abilities have been studied philosophically before
the founding of psychology
J. S. Mill (British Empiricist)
Gustav Fechner (Physiologist; Psychophysics)
Hermann Ebbinghaus (Experimentalist)
William James (Functionalist)
• But there were important founders of the cognitive
approach
 Jean Piaget (1996 – 1980)

• Swiss Psychologist and a founder of cognitive

development in the 1920s
• His work focused on child’s interactions with the
environment
• Identified structures becomes more complex (reflected
through stages) through maturation and experience.
• His extensive work on cognitive development in the 1930’s
and 1940’s contributed to the revived interest in cognitive
issues in the 1950’s
 Edward Tolman and Clark Hull

• Challenged Behaviorist assumptions by examining internal

mental process
• These processes were called Intervening (better adaptation
of the individual to a given situation ) Variables

• For Hull, these variables were mainly physiological

(needs)
• For Tolman they were mainly cognitive variables
(mental maps).
 Founding of Cognitive Psychology
Key Ideas
Carl Rogers and Donald Hebb
• Both challenged radical behaviorism and psychoanalysis.

• Rogers( emphasized the importance of internal conscious

processes and its role on behavior.(like Carl Rogers Client
Centered Therapy)
____________________________________________________
1. Radical behaviorism = how environmental factors influence our state of
mind.

2. Psychoanalysis the focus is on the unconscious mind rather than the

conscious mind
 Hebb
.
• Hebb contributed to the rise of cognitive interests
with his book The Organization of Behavior which
encouraged an interest both biological explanations
and cognitive processes

• Continued to discuss physiology and behavioral

phenomena and cognitive processes..
• He noted the work of Festinger and
Miller, Galanter, & Pribram as good starts
toward cognitive psychology.
 Herbert Simon and
Allen Newell
• Colleagues at Carnegie-Mellon University
• Were founding fathers of
several of today's important
scientific domains, including

• artificial Intelligence,
• information processing,
• decision-making,
 George Miller
• Princeton Professor whose ideas are fundamental/base to cognitive
psychology. Presented his research on short-term memory its capacity.
• Miller (1956) most famous discoveries was that human short-term
memory is generally limited to holding seven pieces/chunks of
information, plus or minus two, where a chunk is any meaningful unit
including digits, words, chess positions,
Miller, Galanter, and Pribram (1960) proposed
TOTE (Test- Operate-Test-Exit)
• T.O.T.E., standing for "Test - Operate - Test - Exit", is an repetitive
problem solving strategy based on feedback loops.
•Focus on goal-directed behavior.
 The TOTE Model = T.O.T.E. stands for Test-Operate-Test-Exit.
• The starting point is a specific actual. state and the target is a certain desired
state.
• We compare the actual and the desired state.
• If this test / comparison shows that the target has not yet been reached, we
take this information as feedback and now make certain changes and
improvements (operate).
• Next, we compare the result again with the desired state (test). When the
goal is reached, this process is finished (exit).
• Again, if we find a difference, we operate and test again until the goal is
reached.
• This model describes the basic structure of human learning in a simple way.
 .
Jerome Bruner
• Jerome Bruner was an American psychologist who made important
contributions to human cognitive psychology as well as cognitive
learning theory in educational psychology.
• Professor at Harvard and NYU Law School
• Published The Study of Thinking (1956) and the Process of
Education (1960 )
• Considered central in the cognitive approach to thinking and
learning.
• Key ideas:
• Learning is an active process where learners construct new ideas
• Cognitive structure (schema, models) provides meaning and
organization to experiences.
 For general knowledge
1.Predisposition towards learning =Should be designed that will help the
students be willing and able to learn

2.A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and
interpret information.(For example, when a child is young, they may
develop a schema for a dog. They know a dog walks on four legs, is hairy,
and has a tail. When the child goes to the zoo for the first time and sees a
tiger, they may initially think the tiger is a dog as well)

3.A spiral curriculum can be defined as a course of study in which

students will see the same topics throughout their school career, with each
encounter increasing in complexity and reinforcing previous learning.
 Leon Festinger
• Leon Festinger was a 20th century psychologist who
developed the theories of cognitive dissonance and
social comparison.

• When ideas are incompatible (opposite / clashing), a

state of cognitive dissonance exists that motivates a
person to change beliefs or behavior.

• Cognitive Dissonance one of the major

accomplishments of all of Psychology