Cognitive psychology is currently one of the most influential and effective therapeutic lines for the healing of mental disorders. However, the term “cognitive”, being uncommon in family language, in the world of behavioral sciences, is a widely used term. Who isn’t particularly familiar with psychology, will we say what?Cognitive?in this case, it is used as synonymous with knowledge or thought.
Cognitive psychology, therefore, is dedicated to the study of human behavior from aspects that are not directly observable, are not observable because they are mental aspects that intervene in the relationship between a stimulus and a response, in saying the same thing in a slightly less technical way. cognitive psychology is tasked with knowing what ideas come to the patient’s mind and how these ideas influence the emotional responses and behaviors they have, how they feel and what they do about it.
- Today we frequently use cognitive therapy to solve many psychological problems.
- At this point it has come today because it has been observed how cognition and thought influence.
- And even in many cases.
- Determine the behavior of the patient.
Treatment from this perspective focuses on identifying thoughts, beliefs and mental patterns that do not correspond to the reality surrounding the patient, i. e. exaggerated thoughts to try to challenge them through coherent debate based on questions that call into question thoughts. person or patient is able to identify and challenge their own beliefs, then they will be ready to reformulate them and create new beliefs more suited to reality.
In the 1950s, the dominant paradigm was behavioral or behavioral psychology, which, while it manages to explain many psychological phenomena, is also quite reductionist because it is only about explaining the observable. . ” It was considered either irrelevant to the study of observable behavior or even something metaphysical.
When the current theory reached a dead end, it was observed that the phenomena that were happening in our minds were important, something happened during the time between the stimulus received and the response it generated, this is where scientists began to study the processes. rationality, language, memory, intelligence, imagination?
The same goes for the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, a stream of psychology also regarded as one of the most important of the time; Like behaviorism, psychoanalysis has also not been able to respond to the multiplicity of mental disorders, even if it was a revolution for psychology.
In general, there are some scientific perspectives that have led to the emergence of cognitive psychology, these are:
As we have explained above, cognitive psychology was born from the limits of behaviorism, he was able to explain, for example, why there are people who respond differently to each other, even if they have gone through the same conditioning, the same experiences. The best-known representatives who helped cognitive psychology establish the the most well-known in the world of behavioral sciences were:
Barlett was the first professor of experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge. His main theory was the theory of cognitive patterns. The theory says that thought, like memory, are processes that can be reconstructed.
Through the fables the researcher read to the people involved in his studies, it was found that his memory was not to the letter, although the stories were read over and over again, each person was more likely to remember what corresponded to his previous mental patterns, that is, each person remembered the details of the story that best corresponded to their lives and beliefs , and tended to forget the opposite details.
For this author, there are three forms of learning: inactive, iconic and symbolic. Bruner has created a theory of teaching that determines four of the most important aspects of learning: the willingness to learn, the ways in which a body of knowledge can be structured, the sequences of presentation of the material, and finally the nature and rhythm of the stimuli of reward or punishment.
The most important part of his theory is the place of immersion in knowledge, necessary for anyone to learn, so he emphasizes the idea that a student learns faster and faster when involved in the knowledge he must acquire, through his practical use. application.
Gardner formulated the famous theory of multiple intelligences, the theory says that intelligence would be the ability to organize thoughts and coordinate them with actions; each person would have at least eight types of intelligence or cognitive ability.
These forms of intelligence are semi-autonomous, but they can function as a team, integrated into the person’s mind; each person will also develop one type or another of intelligence to varying degrees due to cultural accents and the history of life.
Sternberg is well known for his triangular theory of love, which says that consumed love consists of three elements: intimacy, passion and commitment.
In addition, he also postulating the triarchic theory of intelligence, which says that intelligence is a mental activity that aims to improve our adaptation, selection and determination of a person’s relevant characteristics. with or causes changes.
He is a very influential author in the field of schematic theory, according to him diagrams are representations of general concepts that are stored in our memory and that help us organize the world, his theory explains how the world is represented in our minds and how we use information to interact with the environment.
Piaget is one of the most important authors in cognitive psychology, formulated the theory of cognitive development in stages, the stages are characterized by the gradual development of logical structures, qualitatively different at different ages, each structure gives the child the opportunity to gradually develop his skills, also imposing restrictions according to each phase.
There are many other representatives of cognitive psychology, such as Vigotsky, Erickson or Ausubel, all deserved a place on this list as their studies contributed to the current psychological revolution, composing it and allowing us to understand the main strengths of this line, as well as the weaknesses of the most popular current, the cognitive-behavioral current.
Thus, thanks to everyone’s input, psychology has advanced enormously, so while conductism is still used today and even combined with cognitive psychology in the cognitive-behavioral line, it was also a big step forward for its time compared to what it was. previously known, improving the treatment of different mental disorders with as much impact as depression, for example.
References
De la Vega, M. Introduction to Cognitive Psychology (1984). Alliance.
Bruner, J. S. (1959). Learning and Thinking. Harvard Education, 29: 184-192.
Well, JI Cognitive Learning Theories. Morata new edition