What is Cognitive Psychology?

Poet Bullucks | June 10, 2026

Definition:

Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes. Specifically, it studies our way of thinking and how it related to our behavior, actions, and past experiences.

Credit: Braining Center

Credit: Christie's

Origin and Development:

The origin of cognitive psychology had multiple contributors over human time. An example of these contributors could be Rene Descartes, a french Philosopher and mathematician. Descartes was born in March 1596, being raised by his grandmother, than his uncle. He created a unique foundation for modern philosophy by first questioning the overlooked concept of existence and counsciousness. He explored the concept of thought and perception with his interest of the human consciousness.

His famous quote for example "I think, therefore I am" or "Cogito, ergo sum" explores the ways of which humans only know they exist because of them being able to perceive and sense themself. In other words, he suggested that a way to prove your consciousness is to think and acknowledge. This can also include his creation of the modern mind body dualism. Mind body dualism is the idea that pure mind and body are completely different forms of nature.

Additionally, he had shared many thoughts and theories about the idea of God, matter, physics and of course, the mind. More generally, he brung the birth of modern psychology. Thought and perception was further developed by Immanuel Kant in later years by questioning empiricism (the idea that all knowledge comes from experiences involving your senses) and human perception (the way you take in your senses).

Sigmund Freud

A name that was involved more heavily was Sigmund Freud. Sigmund was born in 1896, 3 exact decades after Descartes. He was seen as a very skillful intellectual in his time. His most popular idea is the psychoanalysis theory, which focuses on the state of unconsciousness in the mind.

Another interesting theory of his includes the levels of consciousness. He created this theory to explain the states of consciousness leading to unconsciousness. In this theory, he states that only one-tenth of our mind is conscious, while the rest is unconscious. His levels are the superego, the id, and the ego. The superego is your judgement based on what you learned throughout life. It encourages you not to take the risk, or not to summit to your desires altogether. The id is the impulsive and spontaneous part of your thoughts and judgments. It fights to be unchecked and satisfied so you give in to yourself. The ego is the thought that compromises between the two so you meet common ground. This way, your decision is overall healthy, safe, and sensible while still being satisfied to an extent.

Credit: Wikipedia

Freud has many other popular theories associated with development and stages of the mind, most of them being created in the prime of his life time. Although freud explored and led many types of psychology with his theories and beliefs, his specific impacts on studying human cognition gives him multiple "founder" titles on mechanisms we use even today (even if some were more controversial).

The Cognitive Revolution

However, the true birth of cognitive psychology didn't actually come until the "Cognitive revolution". The cognitive revolution took place throughout the 1950's and 60's (not as far away as a lot of people would think). This revolution was started by the revival of a wide interest in computer science, neuroscience and language being steered into questions about brain cognition, creating a long revolution that expanded our understanding about the brain. This also brought attention away from behavioralism, which was the previous interest until cognitive processes started to dominate.

One of the influencers during this time was Ulric Niesser with his interesting research and textbook on cognitive psychology in 1967. He is also considered the founder of cognitive psychology. George miller was another influencer during the revolution. He provoked the thought of psychology "the science of behavior" rather than "the science of mental life". in 1960, he was also one of the founders for the Harvard Center for Cognitive Studies.

Thoughts and the Brain

When it comes to questioning your existence, cognitive psychology is good at making you question it even more. There has been lots of ideas and theories overtime from cognitive psychologists, philosophers, and authors that has affiliated atleast one piece of their work with existence, life, and the universe. Cognitive psychology answers questions like:

How am I thinking right now?
How do my emotions effect my thoughts?
How do we learn?
Is it actually possible to multitask?
What are the different ways in which we problem solve?

Cognitive psychology can sometimes be blured into other types of psychology, like biopsychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, etc. Its is incredibly unique for the reason that its strong in complexity and admiration, but also incredibly sensitive because of its complexity. This topic studies processes that you both can and cannot physically see.

Not only this, but it makes you more aware of what you are, as well as the people around you. Studying this topic is one of the closest you can get to studying your mental self. This gives you more awareness in life for how you think, feel, behave, and (most importantly) constructed. Psychology is a study that can be interpreted in many different ways.

References

Graham, R., & Griffin, S. (n.d.). 1.2 history of cognitive psychology. Cognitive Psychology. https://nmoer.pressbooks.pub/cognitivepsychology/chapter/history-of-cognitive-psychology/

Cherry, K. (2025). Cognitive psychology: The science of how we think. verywellmind.com. https://www.verywellmind.com/cognitive-psychology-4157181

Barsalou, L. W. (2014). Cognitive psychology: An overview for cognitive scientists. Psychology Press.

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology-2e

Jay, M. E. (n.d.). Sigmund Freud | Biography, theories, psychology, books, works, & facts | britannica. Britannica.com. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigmund-Freud

Ayrez, A. (n.d.). Cognitive Revolution History, Pioneers & Contributions - lesson | study.com. https://study.com/academy/lesson/cognitive-revolution-in-psychology.html

Pinker, S. (2011). The Cognitive Revolution — Harvard gazette. The Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/10/the-cognitive-revolution/

Watson, R. (2026). René Descartes - Philosophy, mathematics, legacy | Britannica. Britannica.com. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rene-Descartes/Final-years-and-heritage

Hatfield, G. (2008). René Descartes (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Plato.Standford.edu. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/

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