Running Head= Cognitive Concept 1

An assignment on

Cognitive Concept

10 August 2017

SUBMITTED BY:

Neha Rauniyar

Fourth semester

Nepal Business College

Biratnagar 15, Nepal

Author Note

This research paper was prepared for Psychology , BBA 3763, and Department of

Psychology, Taught by Samir Singh Sudhansu

Running Head= Cognitive Concept 2

Cognitive Concept

The term 'cognitive psychology' was first used by Ulric Neisser in 1967. Since then, many
interventions have emerged from cognitive study that have benefited the field of psychology.
Cognitive psychology also touches on many other disciplines. Because of this, it is frequently
studied by people in a number of different fields including medicine, education, and business.
Cognitive psychology is goal-oriented and problem-focused from the beginning. Imagine you
are entering treatment with a cognitive psychologist. One of the first things you will be asked
to do is identify your problems and formulate specific goals for yourself. Then you will be
helped to organize your problems in a way that will increase the chances of meeting your
goals.

Cognition is "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through
thought, experience, and the senses."[1] It encompasses processes such as knowledge,
attention, memory and working memory, judgment and evaluation, reasoning and
"computation problem solving and decision making, comprehension and production of
language. Human cognition is conscious and unconscious, concrete or abstract, as well as
intuitive (like knowledge of a language) and conceptual (like a model of a language).
Cognitive processes use existing knowledge and generate new knowledge.

Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes such as "attention, language

use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and thinking". Much of the work
derived from cognitive psychology has been integrated into various other modern disciplines
of psychological study, including educational psychology, social psychology, personality
psychology, abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, and economics.
Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on the way people process
information. It looks at how we process information we receive and how the treatment of this
information leads to our responses. In other words, cognitive psychology is interested in what
is happening within our minds that links stimulus(input) and response (output). Cognitive
psychologists study internal processes that include perception, attention, language, memory,
and thinking. It includes the following areas;
Perception
Learning
Memory
Personality
Intelligence
Problem Solving
Attention
Thinking
Running Head= Cognitive Concept 3

Perception

Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in

order to represent and understand the environment.[1] All perception involves signals in
the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sense
organs.[2] For example, vision involves light striking the retina of the eye, smell is mediated
by odor molecules, and hearing involves pressure waves. Perception is not the passive receipt
of these signals, but is shaped by learning, memory, expectation, and attention.
Perception can be split into two processes. Firstly, processing sensory input, which
transforms these low-level information to higher-level information (e.g., extracts shapes for
object recognition). Secondly, processing which is connected with a person's concepts and
expectations (knowledge) and selective mechanisms (attention) that influence perception.
Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems
mostly effortless because this processing happens outside conscious awareness.[2]

Closure. Closure is the completion of an incomplete stimulus. If someone yells at

you, Close the_____, the word door isn't said, but you fill in the blank because of
past experience and close the door.
Nearness. Stimuli that are near one another tend to be grouped together; stars near
one another are sometimes seen as a pattern or constellation, which is not the case for
stars that are far apart.
Similarity. Stimuli that are similar to one another are frequently grouped together;
people wearing the same band uniforms are seen as similar compared to a group of
marching people wearing everyday clothes.
Continuity. The tendency is to view a figure, pattern, or illustration that contains gaps
as smooth and continuous rather than as discontinuous. The broken line down the
middle of the highway is perceived as a continuous dotted line rather than a long row
of blocks.
Contiguity. Contiguity, or nearness in time and space, also influences perception. If
certain theme songs and visual stimuli are placed near the beginning or end of
television programs, these stimuli are associated with the starting or stopping of the
program.
Running Head= Cognitive Concept 4

Learning

Organizational learning is the process of creating, retaining, and transferring knowledge

within an organization. An organization improves over time as it gains experience. From this
experience, it is able to create knowledge. This knowledge is broad, covering any topic that
could better an organization. Examples may include ways to increase production efficiency or
to develop beneficial investor relations. Knowledge is created at four different units:
individual, group, organizational, and inter organizational.

Contemporary perspective about learning is that it is a cognitive process. Cognitive processassumes that people
are conscious, active participants in how they learn. Cognitive theory of learning assumes that the organism learns
the meaning of various objects and event andlearned responses depending on the meaning assigned to
stimuli.WolfgangKhler showed that a protracted process of trial-and-error may be replaced by asudden
understanding that grasps the interrelationships of a problem. This process, calledinsight, is more akin to piecing
together a puzzle than responding to a stimulus. EdwardTolman (1930) found that unrewarded rats learned the
layout of a maze, yet this was not apparent untilthey were later rewarded with food. Tolman called this latent
learning, and it has beensuggested that the rats developed cognitive maps of the maze that they were able to
applyimmediately when a reward was offered.
The cognitive theory of learning is relevant in the contemporary managerial practices. Manymotivation theories
center around the concept of cognition. Expectations, attributions and locusof control are all cognitive concepts
requiring attention while motivating employees.

Memory

Memory is the term given to the structures and processes involved in the storage and
subsequent retrieval of information. Memory is essential to all our lives. Without a memory
of the past we cannot operate in the present or think about the future. We would not be able to
remember what we did yesterday, what we have done today or what we plan to do tomorrow.
Without memory we could not learn anything. Memory is involved in processing vast
amounts of information. This information takes many different forms, e.g. images, sounds or
meaning. For psychologists the term memory covers three important aspects of information
processing:

When information comes into our memory system (from sensory input), it needs to be
changed into a form that the system can cope with, so that it can be stored. Think of this as
similar to changing your money into a different currency when you travel from one country
to another. This concerns the nature of memory stores, i.e. where the information is stored,
how long the memory lasts for (duration), how much can be stored at any time (capacity) and
what kind of information is held. The way we store information affects the way we retrieve
it. There has been a significant amount of research regarding the differences between Short
Term Memory(STM ) and Long Term Memory (LTM). This refers to getting information out
storage. If we cant remember something, it may be because we are unable to retrieve it.
When we are asked to retrieve something from memory, the differences between STM and
LTM become very clear.
Running Head= Cognitive Concept 5

Problem solving
The term problem solving is used in many disciplines, sometimes with different perspectives,
and often with different terminologies. For instance, it is a mental process in psychology and
a computerized process in computer science. Problems can also be classified into two
different types (ill-defined and well-defined) from which appropriate solutions are to be
made. Ill-defined problems are those that do not have clear goals, solution paths, or expected
solution. Well-defined problems have specific goals, clearly defined solution paths, and clear
expected solutions.

Problem solving refers to cognitive processing directed at achieving a goal when the problem
solver does not initially know a solution method. A problem exists when someone has a goal
but does not know how to achieve it. Problems can be classified as routine or nonroutine, and
as well defined or ill defined. The major cognitive processes in problem solving are
representing, planning, executing, and monitoring. The major kinds of knowledge required
for problem solving are facts, concepts, procedures, strategies, and beliefs. Classic theoretical
approaches to the study of problem solving are associationism, Gestalt, and information
processing. Current issues and suggested future issues include decision making, intelligence
and creativity, teaching of thinking skills, expert problem solving, analogical reasoning,
mathematical and scientific thinking, everyday thinking, and the cognitive neuroscience of
problem solving.

Intelligence
Human intelligence, mental quality that consists of the abilitiesto learn from experience,
adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to
manipulate one's environment. Overview of human intelligence, including a discussion of
intelligence tests.

The theories are grouped into four major theory types: (1) psychometric theories; (2)
cognitive theories; (3) cognitive-contextual theories; and (4) biological theories.
Psychometric theories derive from studying individual differences in test performance on
cognitive tests. Questions about the structure of human intelligence, including the importance
of general intelligence, have dominated the psychometric theories. Cognitive theories derive
from studying the processes involved in intelligent performance. These processes range from
the very simple (e.g., inspection time) to the fairly complex (e.g., working memory).
Different theorists have focused on different processes (or aspects of these processes, such as
processing speed). Cognitive-contextual theories emphasize processes that demonstrate
intelligence within a particular context (such as a cultural environment). Major theories
include Sternbergs triarchic theory, Gardners theory of multiple intelligences, and Piagets
theory of development. Biological theories emphasize the relationship between intelligence,
and the brain and its functions. Numerous relationships have been found, but none have been
elaborated into a detailed theory of the neuropsychology of intelligence. The chapter
concludes with several questions for future research in the area of intelligence.
Running Head= Cognitive Concept 6

Thinking

Thinking can refer to the act of producing thoughts or the process of producing thoughts. In
spite of the fact that thought is a fundamental human activity familiar to everyone, there is no
generally accepted agreement as to what thought is or how it is created. Because thought
underlies many human actions and interactions, understanding its physical and metaphysical
origins, processes, and effects has been a longstanding goal of many academic disciplines
including artificial intelligence, biology, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. Thinking
allows humans to make sense of, interpret, represent or model the world they experience, and
to make predictions about that world. It is therefore helpful to an organism with needs,
objectives, and desires as it makes plans or otherwise attempts to accomplish those goals.

Attention
Attention is the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one thing while ignoring
other things. Examples include listening carefully to what someone is saying while ignoring
other conversations in the room. Attention can also be split, as when a person drives a car and
talks on a cell phone at the same time.
Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and
cognitive neuroscience. Of the many cognitive processes associated with the human mind
(decision-making, memory, emotion, etc), attention is considered the most concrete because
it is tied so closely to perception. As such, it is a gateway to the rest of cognition. The most
famous definition of attention was provided by one of the first major psychologists, William
James:
Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind in clear and vivid
form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought...It
implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others. (Principles of
Psychology, 1890)

Language

Language is a system of symbols and rules that is used for meaningful communication. A
system of communication has to meet certain criteria in order to be considered a language:
A language uses symbols, which are sounds, gestures, or written characters that represent
objects, actions, events, and ideas. Symbols enable people to refer to objects that are in
another place or events that occurred at a different time. A language is meaningful and
therefore can be understood by other users of that language. A language is generative, which
means that the symbols of a language can be combined to produce an infinite number of
messages.
Running Head= Cognitive Concept 7

A language has rules that govern how symbols can be arranged. These rules allow people to
understand messages in that language even if they have never encountered those messages
before.

Conclusion

Cognition is a mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension. These

processes include thinking, knowing, remembering, judging and problem-solving. These are
higher-level functions of the brain and encompass language, imagination, perception, and
planning. Cognition involves not only the things that go on inside our heads but also how
these thoughts and mental processes influence our actions. Our attention to the world around
us, memories of past events, understanding of language, judgments about how the world
works, and abilities to solve problems all contribute to how we behave and interact with our
surrounding environment.