History of Psychology
Chapter 15
Cognitive Psychology & Psychology
in the 21st Century
Cognitive Movement in Psychology

The founding of cognitive psychology

1. no single founder

2. Their position in opposition to the behaviorist and
could not or would not give a definition for what they
were really doing or supporting.

3. two scholars contributed groundbreaking work


a. George Miller
b. Ulric Neisser
II. George Miller (1920 - )

A. His life
 1. majored in speech and
English


2. as a graduate student, taught
16 sections of introductory
psychology
3. 1941: master’s in speech from
U. of Alabama
George Miller (1920 - )

4. 1946: Ph.D. from Harvard, began studying
psycholinguistics

5. 1951: Language and Communication

6. behaviorism

a. Miller accepted it as the primary school (had no
choice)
George Miller (1920 - )

B. The Center for Cognitive Studies

1. purpose: to investigate the human mind

2. defined by what it was not in behaviorism

3. cognitive psychology is a return to
commonsense psychology

4. wide range of topics of interest
Ulric Neisser (1928 - )

A. His life

1. born in Kiel, Germany;
moved to the U.S. at age 3

2. at Harvard: a physics major,
switched to psychology

3. influenced by Miller, and
Koffka’s Principles of Gestalt
Psychology (1935)
Ulric Neisser (1928 - )


4. 1950: bachelor’s from Harvard
5. master’s at Swarthmore with
Köhler

6. 1956: Ph.D. from Harvard

7. behaviorist (he had no choice)
Ulric Neisser (1928 - )

8. first position at Brandeis, with Maslow as
department head



a. opportunity to pursue his interest in cognitive
psychology
b. claimed cognitive psychology is the Third Force
9. 1967: Cognitive Psychology


a. a personal book, an attempt to define the kind of
psychologist he wanted to be.
b. this book was a landmark in the history of
psychology
Ulric Neisser (1928 - )

10. 1976: Cognition and Reality


a. dissatisfied with
 1) the narrowing of the cognitive position
 2) the reliance on artificial laboratory situations
for data instead of real-world settings
b. concluded: cognitive psychology had little to
contribute to understanding how people cope


11. became an outspoken critic and challenging
the movement.
III. Psychology in the 21 century

A. Cognitive Neuroscience

Study: how brain functions give rise to mental activity
and to correlate specific aspects of information
processing with specific brain regions.
EEG (Electroencephalogram)
 MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imagery)
 PET (Positron Emission Tomography)
 CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography)
Increasing the precision and detail to observe brain
activities.

III. Psychology in the 21 century

B. Evolutionary Psychology

C. Health Psychology
 enhance physical health

D. Cognitive Science
 Human-computer interactions
III. Psychology in the 21 century

E. Multi-cultural and cross-cultural issues in
psychology
 Multiculturalism as a fourth force

F. The technology of psychological testing

G. Prescription privileges for Psychologists

H. Reluctance to managed care