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Cognitive Theory

🧠 Psychology By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated
Quick answer: cognitive theory holds that behavior is best understood through mental information processing such as perception, attention, memory and thinking. It replaced behaviorism as the mainstream during the 'cognitive revolution' of the 1950s and 1960s.
Contents
  1. 1. What is cognitive theory?
  2. 2. The cognitive revolution
  3. 3. Information-processing models
  4. 4. Schemas and development
  5. 5. Clinical use: cognitive therapy
  6. 6. Uses in education
  7. 7. Criticism
  8. 8. References

What is cognitive theory?

Cognitive theory opens the "black box" between stimulus and response and makes mental processes the object of study. Where behaviorism limited itself to observable behavior, cognitive theory asks how people take in, store and transform information.

The cognitive revolution

  • George Miller (1956) argued short-term memory holds about "seven plus or minus two" items.
  • Chomsky (1959) criticized Skinner's Verbal Behavior, arguing language acquisition requires internal rules.
  • Ulric Neisser's Cognitive Psychology (1967) gave the field its name.

Information-processing models

Atkinson and Shiffrin's (1968) multi-store model describes information flowing from sensory memory to short-term to long-term memory. Baddeley and Hitch (1974) recast short-term memory as working memory with a phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and central executive. Attention, encoding, retrieval and forgetting are core topics.

Schemas and development

Schemas are knowledge structures that organize experience. Piaget described development through assimilation and accommodation, while Vygotsky stressed social interaction.

Clinical use: cognitive therapy

Aaron Beck proposed that depression is maintained by negative automatic thoughts about the self, world and future, and by cognitive distortions. With Ellis's rational emotive behavior therapy, this became the basis of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Cognitive dissonance is a related social-psychological theory.

Uses in education

  • Advance organizers (Ausubel), chunking, spaced practice and retrieval practice
  • Cognitive load theory (Sweller): designing instruction around working-memory limits
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Criticism

The computer metaphor has been criticized for neglecting emotion, the body and context, prompting research on embodied and situated cognition.

References

  1. Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two. Psychological Review, 63(2), 81-97.
  2. Chomsky, N. (1959). A review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior. Language, 35(1), 26-58.
  3. Neisser, U. (1967). Cognitive Psychology. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
  4. Atkinson, R. C., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 2, pp. 89-195). Academic Press.
  5. Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47-89). Academic Press.
  6. Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. International Universities Press.
  7. Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257-285.

Reports and materials that use this theory (Korean)

There are no materials dedicated to this theory yet, but you can search related reports in the CampusDown library (Korean).

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BehaviorismWhat behaviorism is, how John B. Watson launched it in 1913, how Pavlov's and Skinner's conditioning research shaped it, where it is used today, and why the cognitive revolution challenged it.🧠 PsychologyPiaget's Theory of Cognitive DevelopmentPiaget's theory of cognitive development explained: schema, assimilation, accommodation, equilibration, the four stages, comparison with Vygotsky, criticisms, and report examples.📚 EducationCognitive Dissonance TheoryFestinger's cognitive dissonance theory explained: definition, dissonance reduction, the $1/$20 experiment, effort justification, free choice, criticisms, and report examples.🧠 PsychologyMaslow's Hierarchy of NeedsMaslow's hierarchy of needs explained: definition, the five levels, deficiency vs. growth needs, the pyramid myth, empirical criticisms and limitations, report examples for social work, nursing and business, and references.🧠 Psychology

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This article was last updated on October 15, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.