Cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology that investigates internal mental processes such

as problem solving, memory, and language.

The school of thought arising from this approach is known as cognitivism which is interested in
how people mentally represent information processing. It had its foundations in the Gestalt
psychology of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka, and in the work of Jean
Piaget, who provided a theory of stages/phases that describe children's cognitive development.
Cognitive psychologists use psychophysical and experimental approaches to understand,
diagnose, and solve problems, concerning themselves with the mental processes which mediate
between stimulus and response. Cognitive theory contends that solutions to problems take the
form of algorithms—rules that are not necessarily understood but promise a solution, or
heuristics—rules that are understood but that do not always guarantee solutions. Cognitive
science differs from cognitive psychology in that algorithms that are intended to simulate human
behavior are implemented or implementable on a computer. In other instances, solutions may be
found through insight, a sudden awareness of relationships.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 History
• 2 Major research areas in cognitive psychology
• 3 Influential cognitive psychologists
• 4 See also

• 5 References

[edit] History
Ulric Neisser coined the term 'cognitive psychology' in his book published in 1967 (Cognitive
Psychology)[1], wherein Neisser provides a definition of cognitive psychology characterizing
people as dynamic information-processing systems whose mental operations might be described
in computational terms. Also emphasising that it is a point of view which postulates the mind as
having a certain conceptual structure. Neisser's point of view endows the discipline a scope
which expands beyond high-level concepts such as "reasoning", often espoused in other works as
a definition of cognitive psychology. Neisser's definition of cognition illustrates this well:

...the term "cognition" refers to all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced,
elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. It is concerned with these processes even when they
operate in the absence of relevant stimulation, as in images and hallucinations... Given such a
sweeping definition, it is apparent that cognition is involved in everything a human being might
possibly do; that every [2] psychological phenomenon is a cognitive phenomenon. But although
cognitive psychology is concerned with all human activity rather than some fraction of it, the
concern is from a particular point of view. Other viewpoints are equally legitimate and
necessary. Dynamic psychology, which begins with motives rather than with sensory input, is a
case in point. Instead of asking how a man's actions and experiences result from what he saw,
remembered, or believed, the dynamic psychologist asks how they follow from the subject's
goals, needs, or instincts.

Cognitive psychology is radically different from previous psychological approaches in two key
ways.

• It accepts the use of the scientific method, and generally rejects introspection [3] as a valid
method of investigation, unlike symbol-driven approaches such as Freudian psychology.
[neutrality disputed]

• It explicitly acknowledges the existence of internal mental states (such as belief, desire
and motivation) unlike behaviorist psychology. Critics hold that the empiricism of
cognitive psychology combined with the acceptance of internal mental states by cognitive
psychology is contradictory.

The school of thought arising from this approach is known as cognitivism.

Cognitive psychology is one of the more recent additions to psychological research, having only
developed as a separate area within the discipline since the late 1950s and early 1960s following
the "cognitive revolution" initiated by Noam Chomsky's 1959 critique[4] of behaviorism and
empiricism more generally. The origins of cognitive thinking such as computational theory of
mind can be traced back as early as Descartes in the 17th century, and proceeding up to Alan
Turing in the 1940's and 50's. The cognitive approach was brought to prominence by Donald
Broadbent's book Perception and Communication in 1958. Since that time, the dominant
paradigm in the area has been the information processing model of cognition that Broadbent put
forward. This is a way of thinking and reasoning about mental processes, envisioning them as
software running on the computer that is the brain. Theories refer to forms of input,
representation, computation or processing, and outputs. Applied to language as the primary
mental knowledge representation system, cognitive psychology has exploited tree and network
mental models. Its singular contribution to AI and psychology in general is the notion of a
semantic network. One of the first cognitive psychologists, George Miller is well-known for
dedicating his career to the development of WordNet, a semantic network for the English
language. Development began in 1985 and is now the foundation for many machine ontologies.

This way of conceiving mental processes has pervaded psychology more generally over the past
few decades, and it is not uncommon to find cognitive theories within social psychology,
personality psychology, abnormal psychology, and developmental psychology; the application of
cognitive theories to comparative psychology has driven many recent studies in animal
cognition. However, cognitive psychology dealing with the intervening constructs of the mental
presentations is not able to specify: What are the non-material counterparts of material objects?
For example, what is the counterpart of a chair in a mental processes, and how do the non-
material processes evolve in the mind that has no space. Further, what are the very specific
qualities of the mental causalities? In particular, when the causalities are processes. The plain
statement about information processing awakes some questions. What information is dealt with,
its contents, and form. Are there transformations? What are the nature of process causalities?
How subjective states of a person transmute into shared states, and on the other way around?
Finally, yet importantly, how do we who work with cognitive research are able to conceptualize
the mental counter concepts to construct theories that have real importance in real every day life?
Consequently, there is a lack of specific process concepts which enable to derive new
developments, and create grand theories about the mind, and its abysses.

The information processing approach to cognitive functioning is currently being questioned by

new approaches in psychology, such as dynamical systems, and the embodiment perspective.

Because of the use of computational metaphors and terminology, cognitive psychology was able
to benefit greatly from the flourishing of research in artificial intelligence and other related areas
in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, it developed as one of the significant aspects of the inter-
disciplinary subject of cognitive science, which attempts to integrate a range of approaches in
research on the mind and mental processes. [5]1

Psychology, the scientific study of behavior and the mind. This definition contains
three elements. The first is that psychology is a scientific enterprise that obtains
knowledge through systematic and objective methods of observation and
experimentation. Second is that psychologists study behavior, which refers to any
action or reaction that can be measured or observed—such as the blink of an eye,
an increase in heart rate, or the unruly violence that often erupts in a mob. Third is
that psychologists study the mind, which refers to both conscious and unconscious
mental states. These states cannot actually be seen, only inferred from observable
behavior.

***

Many people think of psychologists as individuals who dispense advice, analyze

personality, and help those who are troubled or mentally ill. But psychology is far
more than the treatment of personal problems. Psychologists strive to understand
the mysteries of human nature—why people think, feel, and act as they do. Some
psychologists also study animal behavior, using their findings to determine laws of
behavior that apply to all organisms and to formulate theories about how humans
behave and think.

With its broad scope, psychology investigates an enormous range of phenomena:

learning and memory, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, thinking
and language, personality and social behavior, intelligence, infancy and child
development, mental illness, and much more. Furthermore, psychologists examine
these topics from a variety of complementary perspectives. Some conduct detailed
biological studies of the brain, others explore how we process information; others
analyze the role of evolution, and still others study the influence of culture and
society.

Psychologists seek to answer a wide range of important questions about human

nature: Are individuals genetically predisposed at birth to develop certain traits or
1
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abilities? How accurate are people at remembering faces, places, or conversations
from the past? What motivates us to seek out friends and sexual partners? Why do
so many people become depressed and behave in ways that seem self-destructive?
Do intelligence test scores predict success in school, or later in a career? What
causes prejudice, and why is it so widespread? Can the mind be used to heal the
body? Discoveries from psychology can help people understand themselves, relate
better to others, and solve the problems that confront them.

The term psychology comes from two Greek words: psyche, which means “soul,”
and logos, "the study of." These root words were first combined in the 16th century,
at a time when the human soul, spirit, or mind was seen as distinct from the body.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2005. © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation.

All rights reserved.

Developmental psychology focuses on the changes that come with age. By

comparing people of different ages, and by tracking individuals over time,
researchers in this area study the ways in which people mature and change over
the life span. Within this area, those who specialize in child development or child
psychology study physical, intellectual, and social development in fetuses, infants,
children, and adolescents. Recognizing that human development is a lifelong
process, other developmental psychologists study the changes that occur
throughout adulthood. Still others specialize in the study of old age, even the
process of dying.

See Developmental Psychology; Child Development.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2005. © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation.

All rights reserved.

Psikoanalisis adalah cabang ilmu yang dikembangkan oleh Sigmund Freud dan para
pengikutnya, sebagai studi fungsi dan perilaku psikologis manusia. Psikoanalisis memiliki tiga
penerapan: 1) suatu metoda penelitian dari pikiran; 2) suatu ilmu pengetahuan sistematis
mengenai perilaku manusia; dan 3) suatu metoda perlakuan terhadap penyakit psikologis atau
emosional.[1] Dalam cakupan yang luas dari psikoanalisis ada setidaknya 20 orientasi teoretis
yang mendasari teori tentang pemahaman aktivitas mental manusia dan perkembangan manusia.
Berbagai pendekatan dalam perlakuan yang disebut "psikoanalitis" berbeda-beda sebagaimana
berbagai teori yang juga beragam. Sebagai tambahan, istilah psikoanalisis juga merujuk pada
metoda penelitian terhadap perkembangan anak.
Aliran psikoanalisis Freud merujuk pada suatu jenis perlakuan dimana orang yang dianalisis
mengungkapkan pemikiran secara verbal, termasuk asosiasi bebas, khayalan, dan mimpi, yang
menjadi sumber bagi seorang penganalisis merumuskan konflik tidak sadar yang menyebabkan
gejala yang dirasakan dan permasalahan karakter pada pasien, kemudian menginterpretasikannya
bagi pasien untuk menghasilkan pemahaman diri untuk pemecahan masalahnya.

Intervensi khusus dari seorang penganalisis biasanya mencakup mengkonfrontasikan dan

mengklarifikasi mekanisme pertahanan, harapan, dan perasaan bersalah. Melalui analisis konflik,
termasuk yang berkontribusi terhadap daya tahan psikis dan yang melibatkan tranferens kedalam
reaksi yang menyimpang, perlakuan psikoanalisis dapat mengklarifikasi bagaimana pasien secara
tidak sadar menjadi musuh yang paling jahat bagi dirinya sendiri: bagaimana reaksi tidak sadar
yang bersifat simbolis dan telah distimulasi oleh pengalaman kemudian menyebabkan timbulnya
gejala yang tidak dikehendaki.2

Psikologi perkembangan
Psikologi perkembangan adalah cabang dari ilmu psikologi yang mempelajari perkembangan
dan perubahan aspek kejiwaan manusia sejak dilahirkan sampai dengan mati. Terapan dari ilmu
psikologi perkembangan digunakan di bidang berbagai bidang seperti pendidikan dan
pengasuhan, pengoptimalan kualitas hidup dewasa tua, penanganan remaja.

Area Studi
Berdasarkan usia

• Masa bayi (lahir- 2 tahun)

• Masa balita (2 - 5 tahun)
• Masa anak (5 - 12 tahun)
• Masa remaja (12 - 18/21 tahun)
• Masa dewasa awal (18/21 - 40 tahun)
• Masa dewasa tengah (40 - 55/60 tahun)
• Masa dewasa akhir (55/60 tahun - mati)

Berdasarkan topik

• Kognisi
• Moral
• Bahasa

2
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 • Gerakan motorik
• Identitas diri
• Sosial

Isu dalam psikologi perkembangan

• Natur dan nurtur
• Berkelanjutan dan terputus

• Kualitas dan kuantitas3

Signs of Mental Illness

Symptoms of Psychological Disorders
© Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen

Sep 27, 2007

Mental illness includes difficulty thinking, socializing, & functioning. Here are symptoms of
psychological disorders such as depression or post traumatic stress.

These signs of mental illness are arranged into six categories: thinking, feeling, socializing,
functioning, problems at home and poor self-care. These are symptoms of psychological
disorders - and none by themselves are necessarily indicative of a mental illness, such as bipolar
disorder or depression. However, two or three of these signs of mental illness may indicate some
sort of psychological disorder.

These signs of mental illness don't cover all the possible symptoms of psychological disorders.
These signs are just the more common symptoms of depression, bipolar, schizophrenia or
anxiety disorders.

Problems With Thinking as a Sign of Mental Illness

• Has trouble concentrating, is easily distracted.

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 • Can't remember information.
• Processes information slowly, is confused.
• Has to work hard to solve problems.
• Can't think abstractedly.

False or odd perceptions:

• Has perceptual distortions: unusually bright colors or loud sounds.

• Hears voices.
• Feels old situations are strangely new.
• Believes hidden messages are on TV, the radio, or public transportation.

Problems With Feelings as a Sign of Mental Illness

Depression symptoms:

• Decreased appetite, weight loss.

• Difficulty sleeping, interrupted sleep, sleeping too much.
• Intrusive thoughts of death or suicide.
• Unable to make decisions, concentrate, or follow through.
• Feels worthless, hopeless, and helpless.
• Guilty feelings over minor things.
• Loss of interest and pleasure in most things.

Bipolar mania symptoms:

• Overly confident and grandiose about abilities, talents, wealth, appearance.

• Excessive energy, needs little sleep.
• Irritable much of the time.
• Extreme mood swings with no provocation.
• Speaks very fast, difficult to interrupt.
• Is easily angered.
• Excited, euphoric, overly confident, disruptive to others.

Anxiety symptoms:

• Overalert and on guard most of the time.

• Feels anxious, afraid, and worried about everyday events.
• Avoids normal activities (taking the bus, grocery shopping).
• Uncomfortable around people.
• Compelled to do ritualistic or repeated behaviors.
• Has upsetting, intrusive memories or nightmares of past events.

Problems with Socializing as a Sign of Mental Illness

• Has few close friends.

 • Anxious and afraid around others.
• Verbally or physically aggressive.
• Has tumultuous relationships, from overly critical to worshipful.
• Hard to get along with.
• Can't read other people.

Problems with Functioning as a Sign of Mental Illness

• Gets fired or quits frequently.

• Is easily angered or irritated by normal stresses and expectations.
• Can't get along with others at work, school, or home.
• Can't concentrate or work effectively.

Problems at Home as a Sign of Mental Illness

• Can't attend to others' needs.

• Overwhelmed by chores or household expectations.
• Can't keep up with housework.
• Instigates arguments and fights with family, passively or actively.

Poor Self-Care as a Sign of Mental Illness

• Does not take care of appearance or cleanliness.

• Doesn't eat enough, or overeats.
• Doesn’t take care of yard or home.
• Doesn't attend to finances, insurance bills, vehicle, etc.
• Pays little or no attention to physical health.

Specific mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders don't
necessarily have symptoms that fall into one category. In other words, someone struggling with
bipolar disorder could have signs of mental illness from each category (though there are
indications that are strictly bipolar, such as excessive energy and extreme mood swings).

Getting Help With Signs of Mental Illness

The only way to determine whether the signs of mental illness are indeed serious psychological
problems such as bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety or schizophrenia is to seek a counselor's
or psychologist's help.

Read more: "Signs of Mental Illness: Symptoms of Psychological Disorders" -

http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/signs_of_mental_illness#ixzz08sufx3Fl4

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Psychological Signs and Symptoms - Part II
By: Sam Vaknin, Wed Jan 24th, 2007

Dementia

Simultaneous impairment of various mental faculties, especially the intellect, memory, judgment,
abstract thinking, and impulse control due to brain damage, usually as an outcome of organic
illness. Dementia ultimately leads to the transformation of the patient's whole personality.
Dementia does not involve clouding and can have acute or slow (insidious) onset. Some
dementia states are reversible.

Depersonalization

Feeling that one's body has changed shape or that specific organs have become elastic and are
not under one's control. Usually coupled with "out of body" experiences. Common in a variety of
mental health and physiological disorders: depression, anxiety, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and
hypnagogic states. Often observed in adolescents. See: Derealization.

Derailment A loosening of associations. A pattern of speech in which unrelated or loosely-

related ideas are expressed hurriedly and forcefully, with frequent topical shifts and with no
apparent internal logic or reason. See: Incoherence.

Derealization

Feeling that one's immediate environment is unreal, dream-like, or somehow altered. See:
Depersonalization.

Warped Reality

Dereistic Thinking

Inability to incorporate reality-based facts and logical inference into one's thinking. Fantasy-
based thoughts.

Disorientation

Not knowing what year, month, or day it is or not knowing one's location (country, state, city,
street, or building one is in). Also: not knowing who one is, one's identity. One of the signs of
delirium.

Echolalia
Imitation by way of exactly repeating another person's speech. Involuntary, semiautomatic,
uncontrollable, and repeated imitation of the speech of others. Observed in organic mental
disorders, pervasive developmental disorders, psychosis, and catatonia. See: Echopraxia.

Echopraxia

Imitation by way or exactly repeating another person's movements. Involuntary, semiautomatic,

uncontrollable, and repeated imitation of the movements of others. Observed in organic mental
disorders, pervasive developmental disorders, psychosis, and catatonia. See: Echolalia.

Flight of Ideas

Rapidly verbalized train of unrelated thoughts or of thoughts related only via relatively-coherent
associations. Still, in its extreme forms, flight of ideas involves cognitive incoherence and
disorganization. Appears as a sign of mania, certain organic mental health disorders,
schizophrenia, and psychotic states. Also see: Pressure of Speech and Loosening of Associations.

More about the manic phase of the Bipolar disorder

Folie a Deux (Madness in Twosome, Shared Psychosis)

The sharing of delusional (often persecutory) ideas and beliefs by two or more (folie a plusieurs)
persons who cohabitate or form a social unit (e.g., a family, a cult, or an organization). One of
the members in each of these groups is dominant and is the source of the delusional content and
the instigator of the idiosyncratic behaviors that accompany the delusions.

Read more about Shared Psychosis and cults - click on these links:

http://samvak.tripod.com/journal79.html

http://samvak.tripod.com/abusefamily.html

http://malignantselflove.tripod.com/faq6.html

http://malignantselflove.tripod.com/faq66.html

Fugue

Vanishing act. A sudden flight or wandering away and disappearance from home or work,
followed by the assumption of a new identity and the commencement of a new life in a new
place. The previous life is completely erased from memory (amnesia). When the fugue is over, it
is also forgotten as is the new life adopted by the patient.

Hallucination
False perceptions based on false sensa (sensory input) not triggered by any external event or
entity. The patient is usually not psychotic - he is aware that he what he sees, smells, feels, or
hears is not there. Still, some psychotic states are accompanied by hallucinations (e.g.,
formication - the feeling that bugs are crawling over or under one's skin).

There are a few classes of hallucinations:

Auditory - The false perception of voices and sounds (such as buzzing, humming, radio
transmissions, whispering, motor noises, and so on).

Gustatory - The false perception of tastes

Olfactory - The false perception of smells and scents (e.g., burning flesh, candles)

Somatic - The false perception of processes and events that are happening inside the body or to
the body (e.g., piercing objects, electricity running through one's extremities). Usually supported
by an appropriate and relevant delusional content.

Tactile - The false sensation of being touched, or crawled upon or that events and processes are
taking place under one's skin. Usually supported by an appropriate and relevant delusional
content.

Visual - The false perception of objects, people, or events in broad daylight or in an illuminated
environment with eyes wide open.

Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic - Images and trains of events experienced while falling asleep or
when waking up. Not hallucinations in the strict sense of the word.

Hallucinations are common in schizophrenia, affective disorders, and mental health disorders
with organic origins. Hallucinations are also common in drug and alcohol withdrawal and among
substance abusers.

Ideas of Reference

Weak delusions of reference, devoid of inner conviction and with a stronger reality test. See:
Delusion.

The Delusional Way Out Psychosis and Delusions

Ideas of Reference

Illusion

The misperception or misinterpretation of real external - visual or auditory - stimuli, attributing

them to non-existent events and actions. Incorrect perception of a material object. See:
Hallucination.
Incoherence

Incomprehensible speech, rife with severely loose associations, distorted grammar, tortured
syntax, and idiosyncratic definitions of the words used by the patient ("private language"). A
loosening of associations. A pattern of speech in which unrelated or loosely-related ideas are
expressed hurriedly and forcefully, using broken, ungrammatical, non-syntactical sentences, an
idiosyncratic vocabulary ("private language"), topical shifts, and inane juxtapositions ("word
salad"). See: Loosening of Associations; Flight of Ideas; Tangentiality.

Insomnia

Sleep disorder or disturbance involving difficulties to either fall asleep ("initial insomnia") or to
remain asleep ("middle insomnia"). Waking up early and being unable to resume sleep is also a
form of insomnia ("terminal insomnia").

Loosening of Associations

Thought and speech disorder which involves the translocation of the focus of attention from one
subject to another for no apparent reason. The patient is usually unaware of the fact that his train
of thoughts and his speech are incongruous and incoherent. A sign of schizophrenia and some
psychotic states. See: Incoherence; Flight of Ideas; Tangentiality.

Mood

Pervasive and sustained feelings and emotions as subjectively described by the patient. The same
phenomena observed by the clinician are called affect. Mood can be either dysphoric
(unpleasant) or euphoric (elevated, expansive, "good mood"). Dysphoric moods are characterized
by a reduced sense of well-being, depleted energy, and negative self-regard or sense of self-
worth. Euphoric moods typically involve an increased sense of well-being, ample energy, and a
stable sense of self-worth and self-esteem. Also see: Affect.

Mood Congruence and Incongruence

The contents of mood-congruent hallucinations and delusions are consistent and compatible with
the patient's mood. During the manic phase of the Bipolar Disorder, for instance, such
hallucinations and delusions involve grandiosity, omnipotence, personal identification with great
personalities in history or with deities, and magical thinking. In depression, mood-congruent
hallucinations and delusions revolve around themes like the patient's self-misperceived faults,
shortcomings, failures, worthlessness, guilt - or the patient's impending doom, death, and "well-
deserved" sadistic punishment.

The contents of mood-incongruent hallucinations and delusions are inconsistent and

incompatible with the patient's mood. Most persecutory delusions and delusions and ideas of
reference, as well as phenomena such as control "freakery" and Schneiderian First-rank
Symptoms are mood-incongruent. Mood incongruence is especially prevalent in schizophrenia,
psychosis, mania, and depression.
Misdiagnosing the Bipolar Disorder as Narcissistic Personality Disorder5

Human behavior

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