Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Psychology

The term cognitive psychology came into use with the publication of the book Cognitive Psychology by Ulric Neisser in 1967.
Cognitive psychology focuses on the way humans process information, looking at how we treat information that comes in to the person (what behaviorists would call stimuli), and how this treatment leads to responses.  In other words, they are interested in the variables that mediate between stimulus/input and response/output.  Cognitive psychologists study internal processes including perception, attention, language, memory and thinking.
Typically cognitive psychologists use the laboratory experiment to study behavior.  This is because the cognitive approach is a scientific one.  For example, participants will take part in memory tests in strictly controlled conditions.  However, the widely used lab experiment can be criticized for lacking ecological validity (a major criticism of cognitive psychology).
Cognitive psychology became of great importance in the mid 1950s.  Several factors were important in this:
o Dissatisfaction with the behaviorist approach in its simple emphasis on external behavior rather than internal processes.
o The development of better experimental methods.
o Comparison between human and computer processing of information.
The cognitive approach began to revolutionize psychology in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, to become the dominant approach (i.e. perspective) in psychology by the late 1970s.  Interest in mental processes had been gradually restored through the work of Piaget and Tolman.  Other factors were important in the early development of the cognitive approach.  For example, dissatisfaction with the behaviorist approach in its simple emphasis on behavior rather than internal processes and the development of better experimental methods. 
http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.html

VOCABULARY

Behavior              : kelakuan/tindakan                        Important           : penting

Person                  : seseorang                                         approach             : pendekatan

Attention            : perhatian                                          experiment        : penemuan/penelitian

Language             : bahasa

QUESTION

1.      Mention some several factor, why the cognitive psychology became importance?

2.      What is the cognitive psychology focuse?

3.      When the cognitive psychology begin?