Cognitive Psychology and Ulric Neisser

Explore cognitive psychology. Discover Ulric Neisser, the father of cognitive psychology, his work
with George Miller, and learn the cognitive perspective.

!!!Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology is the study of the human mental system and brain processes such as
learning, memory, critical thinking, problem-solving, perception, attention, decision-making, and
language use. It studies the mental processes involved with knowledge acquisition, retention, and
distribution. Cognitive psychology primarily focuses on the human brain's processing of information.
Learning about people's way of thinking and information processing helps psychologists understand
how the human brain works. In this way, they can help other people with mental and psychological
challenges cope with or overcome the difficulties. Cognitive psychology explores a wide range of
topics, including information processing, emotions and motivations, schemata, and human
behavior.

 Information Processing—This process involves activities such as perception and critical

thinking. Information processing includes assessing all the possible angles of how, when,
why, and with whom to carry out a particular activity, along with the potential outcomes of
every situation. Decisions are always made after careful examination of the options
available. The options are arrived at through comprehensive processing of information.
When information is received, one has to consider how to act upon it and what the
repercussions may be if they choose to pursue a particular direction.
 Emotions and Motivations—Most of the time, human actions are motivated by feelings,
previous occurrences, their environment, etc. Emotions play a vital role in what humans do
and how they choose to do them. Cognitive psychology strives to determine the influence of
an individual's feelings on their actions. Emotions such as anger can trigger vengeful actions.
Happiness, on the other hand, is an emotion that leads to celebration. Nobody does anything
better than a motivated individual. The motivation may be vengeance, proving a point, or
institutional doctrine.
 Schemata—A schema is a cognitive database that organizes previously obtained information
into knowledge abstracts that may be used to process new information and retrieve
information from memory. Schemata help in understanding the link between processes such
as information coding and storage and the response evoked by humans. Cognitive
psychology aids in anticipating human response to a particular stimulus, like crying when in
pain.
 Human Behavior—The behavior of an individual in a particular situation is determined by a
series of cognitive processes. Cognitive psychology recognizes the brain as a structure that
combines information from the environment with prior knowledge and processed information
to make a choice that dictates human behavior in a specific environment. However, behavior
is not always determined by cognitive assessment of the environment. Sometimes, an
individual's behavior is influenced by their personality.

!!!Cognitive Psychology Founder: Ulric Neisser

Cognitive psychology, the study of how human beings think, is a relatively new psychological
concept whose creation is attributed to Ulric Neisser. Neisser, the acclaimed father of cognitive
psychology, studied at Harvard University, where he obtained his undergraduate and doctorate
degrees. In between, Neisser detoured to Swarthmore College, where he earned his master's
degree. He was hailed as the cognitive psychology founder in 1967 when he published the 1st
Edition of the book Cognitive Psychology.
Ulric Neisser's significant contributions to the field of psychology involved cognitive research,
intelligence research, and the study of ''the self'' concept. Neisser's intelligence and cognitive
research studies focused on perception and memory. He postulated that an individual's mental
processes could be determined and subsequently assessed. The self concept explored one's
knowledge of themselves, leading to paradigms of behavioral psychology. As opposed to traditional
behaviorism psychology, which only focused on an individual's actions, the cognitive psychology
approach studied the internal mental processes leading to particular human behavior. Today,
cognitive psychology is used by mental health professionals in the treatment of traumatic brain
injuries, brain tumors, degenerative brain diseases, and mental disorders like Alzheimer's disease,
Parkinson's disease, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), etc.

!George Miller and Ulric Neisser

The history of cognitive psychology dates back to a few years before Ulric Neisser published the
book Cognitive Psychology in 1967. George Miller is one of the psychologists whose interventions
are believed to have significantly impacted the development of cognitive psychology. George Miller
established a Cognitive Studies Center at Harvard in 1960 with the help of another psychologist,
Jerome Burner. Miller's Center for Cognitive Studies explored psychology in various aspects,
including behavioral, social, biological, and developmental psychology. George Miller and Ulric
Neisser first interacted during Neisser's early years as a student at Harvard University. The two
psychologists also crossed paths at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as professional
colleagues. Both Neisser and Miller died in 2012, aged 83 and 92 years, respectively, having
revolutionized the human psychological landscape.

!!!Cognitive Approach Psychology

Cognitive approach psychology is a branch of psychology that explores human thought
processes. In addition to exploring how people think, cognitive approach psychology assesses the
influence of human thinking on their actions and behavior. Science dictates that human behavior is
influenced by genetics, personality, and hormonal imbalances. However, with the development of
cognitive approach psychology, it is evident that individuals' actions are affected by mental
processes too. The processes influencing human behavior include critical thinking, information
processing, decision making, perception, attention, etc.
Cognitive perspective psychology deals with the brain processes that involve the human
processing of information. It views the brain functioning as if it were a computer. The brain takes in
information (input), processes it, and a response is evoked (output). Human brains, like computers,
can also store and retrieve data. According to cognitive perspective psychology, there are three
distinct stages in human memory. The stages include encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding
is the stage of receiving information, storage involves information retention, and retrieval is the stage
where retained information is recalled.

!!!Attention and Perception

Perception and attention are some of the most common aspects of study in cognitive psychology.
These two psychological aspects complement the cognitive approach and cognitive perspective
psychology. Several psychologists, including Neisser, determined that the human brain is selective
in perceiving and attending to what is in an individual's surroundings. For example, one can always
see their nose, but the brain chooses to ignore that. The human brain only focuses on a few specific
details in one's environment and ignores everything else. This phenomenon, where the brain fails to
recognize what is in one's environment when focusing on a particular stimulus, is known as in-
attentional blindness.
In his cognitive psychology research, Neisser and his colleagues experimented with in-attentional
blindness by showing participants a basketball game video. The participants were to note each time
a basketball player passed the ball to a teammate. Neisser realized that the participants were so
engrossed in keeping track of the basketball passes that they failed to notice a woman with an
umbrella passing through the basketball court. This illustration shows how the brain can shut off
other stimuli when focusing on a specific task. A flashbulb memory vividly recalls the
circumstances before and after a shocking occurrence. Suppose two friends traveling in a car are
involved in an accident where one dies, and the other survives. Such an occurrence would produce
a flashbulb memory for the survivor.

!!!Lesson Summary
Cognitive psychology is the study of the human brain system and processes, including learning,
memory, critical thinking, problem-solving, perception, attention, decision-making, and language use.
Cognitive psychology is primarily concerned with information processing by the brain. There are a
variety of topics explored in cognitive psychology, such as information processing, emotions and
motivations, schemata, and human behavior. Information processing involves assessing why,
when, and how to carry out a specific task. Emotions and motivations are the feelings that drive an
individual’s behavior. A schema is the cognitive database that facilitates retrieval of prior knowledge
from memory and the processing of new information.
Cognitive psychology is believed to have been founded in 1967 by Ulric Neisser when he published
the book Cognitive Psychology. The acclaimed father of cognitive psychology is known for his
contributions to the field of psychology through intelligence research, cognitive research, and 'the
self' concept research. The psychology approach most associated with Ulric Neisser is cognitive
psychology. George Miller is another psychologist who contributed massively to the development of
cognitive psychology through his Cognitive Studies Center at Harvard in the 1960s. Miller and
Neisser crossed paths at Harvard and MIT.
Cognitive approach psychology explores the human thought process, including problem-solving,
critical thinking, decision making, etc. while cognitive perspective psychology deals with how the
brain processes information (the brain's similarity to a computer). The human brain functions in three
distinct stages, i.e., encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. Encoding is the reception of
information, storage involves retaining information, and retrieval is the process of recalling retained
information. Oftentimes, the human brain does not perceive or attend to most of what is in one's
surroundings. In-attentional blindness is the condition where one fails to recognize much of their
environment when focusing on a particular stimulus. A flashbulb memory is a recap of the events
leading up to and after a shocking occurrence. One of two friends surviving a car accident, while the
other unfortunately dies, would result in a flashbulb memory.
FAQ

2. Who are the major theorists of cognitive psychology?

Several researchers have contributed to the study of cognitive psychology, including Jean Piaget,
Jerome Burner, Richard Atkinson, Richard Shriffin, etc. However, the major theorists of cognitive
psychology are Ulric Neisser and George Miller.