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Cognitivism (psychology)
In psychology, cognitivism is a theoretical approach in understanding the mind using
quantitative, positivist and scientific methods, that describes mental functions as information
processing models.
Theoretical approach
Cognitivism has two major components, one methodological, the other theoretical.
Methodologically, cognitivism adopts a positivist approach and the belief that psychology can be
(in principle) fully explained by the use of experiment, measurement and the scientific method.
This is also largely a reductionist goal, with the belief that individual components of mental
function (the 'cognitive architecture') can be identified and meaningfully understood. The second
is the belief that cognition consists of discrete, internal mental states (representations or symbols)
whose manipulation can be described in terms of rules or algorithms.
Cognitivism became the dominant force in psychology in the late-20th century, replacing
behaviorism as the most popular paradigm for understanding mental function. Cognitive
psychology is not a wholesale refutation of behaviorism, but rather an expansion that accepts that
mental states exist. This was due to the increasing criticism towards the end of the 1950s of
behaviorist models. One of the most notable criticisms was Chomsky's argument that language
could not be acquired purely through conditioning, and must be at least partly explained by the
existence of internal mental states.
The main issues that interest cognitive psychologists are the inner mechanisms of human
thought and the processes of knowing. Cognitive psychologists have attempted to throw light on
the alleged mental structures that stand in a causal relationship to our physical actions.
Criticisms of psychological cognitivism
Cognitivism has been criticised in a number of ways.
Phenomenologists and hermeneutic philosophers have criticised the positivist approach
of cognitivism for reducing individual meaning to what they perceive as measurements stripped
of all significance. They argue that by representing experiences and mental functions as
measurements, cognitivism is ignoring the context (cf contextualism) and, therefore, the meaning
of these measurements. They believe that it is this personal meaning of experience gained from
the phenomenon as it is experienced by a person (what Heidegger called being in the world)
which is the fundamental aspect of our psychology that needs to be understood: therefore they
argue that a context-free psychology is a contradiction in terms. They also argue in favour of
holism: that positivist methods cannot be meaningfully used on something which is inherently
irreducible to component parts. Hubert Dreyfus has been the most notable critic of cognitivism
from this point of view. Humanistic psychology draws heavily on this philosophy, and
practitioners have been among the most critical of cognitivism.
In the 1990s, various new theories emerged and challenged cognitivism and the idea that
thought was best described as computation. Some of these new approaches, often influenced by
phenomenological and post-modernist philosophy, include situated cognition, distributed
cognition, dynamicism, embodied cognition. Some thinkers working in the field of artificial life
(for example Rodney Brooks) have also produced non-cognitivist models of cognition.
The idea that mental functions can be described as information processing models has been
criticised by philosopher John Searle and mathematician Roger Penrose who both argue that
computation has some inherent shortcomings which cannot capture the fundamentals of mental
processes.

Penrose uses Gödel's incompleteness theorem (which states that there are mathematical
truths which can never be proven in a sufficiently strong mathematical system; any
sufficiently strong system of axioms will also be incomplete) and Turing's halting
problem (which states that there are some things which are inherently non-computable) as
evidence for his position.

Searle has developed two arguments, the first (well known through his Chinese Room
thought experiment) is the 'syntax is not semantics' argument—that a program is just
syntax, understanding requires semantics, therefore programs (hence cognitivism) cannot
explain understanding. It should be noted that such an argument presupposes the
controversial notion of a private language. The second, which Searle now prefers but is
less well known, is his 'syntax is not physics' argument—nothing in the world is
intrinsically a computer program except as applied, described or interpreted by an
observer, so either everything can be described as a computer and trivially a brain can but
then this does not explain any specific mental processes, or there is nothing intrinsic in a
brain that makes it a computer (program). Detractors of this argument might point out
that the same thing could be said about any concept-object relation, and that the braincomputer analogy can be a perfectly useful model if there is a strong isomorphism
between the two. Both points, Searle claims, refute cognitivism.
Cognitive psychologists share with behaviourists the belief that the study of learning
should be objective and that learning theories should be developed from the results of empirical
research. However, cognitivists disagree with the behaviourists in one critical aspect. By
observing the responses that individuals make to different stimulus conditions, cognitivists
believe that they can draw inferences about the nature of the internal cognitive processes that
produce those responses.
Many ideas and assumptions of cognitivism can be traced back to the early decades of the
twentieth century. Of all theories, the theories of Jean Piaget of Switzerland are the ones that
have provided psychology with very elaborated account of developmental changes in cognitive
abilities.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980).
Jean Piaget was one of the most influential cognitive psychologist. He was a student of
biology and zoology and learnt that survival requires adaptation. Therefore he viewed the
development of human cognition, or intelligence, as the continual struggle of a very complex
organism trying to adapt to a very complex environment. According to Piaget´s theory, human
development can be outlined in terms of functions and cognitive structures. The functions are
inborn biological processes that are identical for every one and stay unchanged throughout our
lives. The purpose of these functions is to construct internal cognitive structures. The structures,
in contrast, changes repeatedly as the child grows (Vasa, R., Haith, M.M., Miller,S.A.,1995,
p.,33).
Piaget emphasises on two main functions; one is organisation (or equilibrium).
Organisation refers to the fact that all cognitive structures are interrelated and that any new
knowledge must be fitted into the existing system. It is the need to integrate the new
information, rather than adding them on, that force our cognitive structure to become more
elaborate.
The second general function is adaptation. Adaptation refers to the tendency of the organism to
fit with its environment in ways that promote survival. It is composed of two terms; assimilation
and accommodation.
Assimilation is the tendency to understand new experience in terms of existing
knowledge. Whenever we come across something new, we try to make sense of it, built upon our
existing cognitive structures.
Accommodation occurs when the new information is too complex to be integrated into
the existing structure - this means that, cognitive structures change in response to new
experiences (Spencer, K., 1991,p.,175).
Piaget did many experiments on children’s way of thinking and concluded that human
beings go through several distinct stages of cognitive development. Each stage involves the
acquisition of new skills and rest upon the successful completion of the preceding one.
The first stage is the sensorimotor, (0-2year). Until about four months of age, the infant
can not differentiate itself from the environment. Gradually the child learns to distinguish people
from objects and that both have an existence independent of their immediate perception. This
stage draws it name, sensorimotor, from that the child learns mainly by touching objects,
manipulating them and physically exploring the environment. By the end of this stage the child
understands that its environment has distinctive and stable properties.
The next stage is called the pre-operational (2years-7years). This is the stage when the
child acquires a mastery of a language and becomes able to use words to represent objects and
images in a symbolic fashion. Piaget terms this stage pre-operational because children are not yet
able to use their developing mental capabilities systematically. At this stage children are
egocentric, which means that the child has the tendency to interpret the world exclusively with
its own position. The child does not understand, for an example, that others see things and
objects from a different perspective from their own. During this phase of development the
children have no general understanding of categories of thought that adults take for granted,
ideas such as causality, speed, weight or number.
The third stage is the concrete operational period (7years-11years). During this period
children master abstract, logical notions. They are able to handle ideas such as causality without
much difficulty, and they are fit to carry out the mathematical operations of multiplying, dividing
and subtracting. By this stage children are much less egocentric.
The fourth stage is called the formal operational period (11+). During adolescence, the
developing child becomes able to comprehend highly abstract and hypothetical concepts. When
faced with a problem, children at this stage should be able to review all possible ways of solving
it and go through them theoretically in order to reach a solution.
According to Piaget, the first three stages of development are general, but not all adults
come to the formal operational stage. The development of formal operational thought relies in
part on the process of schooling. Adults of limited educational achievement tend to remain to
think in more concrete terms and retain large traces of egocentrism (Giddens, 1994).
The educational interest of Piaget´s work lies firstly in this procedure he used to make
educationists aware of the child’s thought processes and the conditions under which intellectual
structures are established at different ages.
There are four principles that are most often cited in Piaget´s theory regarding to
education. The first is the important of readiness. This principal follows from his emphasis on
assimilation. Experience, educational or otherwise, does not simply happen to a child; rather it
must always be assimilated to current cognitive structure. A new experience can only be of any
value if the child can make sense of it. Teaching that is far away the child’s level is unlikely to
be useful.
The second principle concerns the motivation for cognitive activity. Educational content
that is either to advanced or too simple is unlikely to be interesting. The educational subject has
to be slightly beyond the current level of the child so that it provides experience familiar enough
to assimilate however challenging enough to provoke disequilibrium.
The third is the awareness of what level the child has reached and the information of what
it can be expected at that level and what not. Piaget´s studies often identify steps and sequences
through which particular content domains are mastered. It is therefor possible not only to
determine were the child is but also to know the natural next steps for development.
The final principle is more functional. It concerns Piaget´s emphasis on intelligence as
an action. In his view education should be build on the child’s natural curiosity and natural
tendency to act on the world in order to understand it. Knowledge is most meaningful when
children construct it themselves rather than having it imposed upon them (Vasa,R.,
Haith,M.M.,Miller,S.A.,1992).
The experience in acquiring a new knowledge through action allows two different kinds
of knowledge to develop, the physical experience and the logico-mathematical experience.
Physical experience produces knowledge of the properties of the objects acted upon. Logicomathematical experience result in knowledge, not of the objects, but of the actions themselves
and their results.
From physical experience, one would gain knowledge of the weight of objects; or the fact
that, other things being equal, weight increases as volume increases, and so on. When speaking
of logico-mathematical experience the point is that even the highest forms of abstract reasoning
have their origin in action (Donaldson, 1987).
The aim for education, according to Piaget, is to make individuals who are critical,
creative and inventive discoverers. So the major part of the child’s learning relies on active
experimentation and discovery. The active classroom has been associated with the term
progressive teaching, where pupils are in active role, learning predominantly by discovery
techniques, with emphasis on creative expression. Subject matter tends to be combined, with the
teacher performing as a guide to educational experiences and encouraging cooparitive work.
External rewards and punishments are seen as being unimportant, and there is not so much
concern with traditional academic standards and testing (Spencer, 1994).
As a biologist Piaget tended to look at development more from the physical change and
the readiness for each stage to develop any further. Another perspective in the cognitive
movement was from those who saw the connection between the environment and the child
development in a constructive way, and Jerome Burner’s ideas are those that are well known.