Epistemology: Cognitivism

Cognitivism

• Overview:  Cognitivism is considered the dominant approach in educational psychology today. The origin of cognitivism can be traced back to the early part of this century when the Gestalt psychologists of Germany, Edward Chase Tolman of the United States, and Jean Piaget of Switzerland had a tremendous influence on psychology and the shift from behaviorist theories.
  
  In the 1920s, Piaget began a research program in Geneva that focused on epistemology, the origins of knowledge. Primarily known as a child psychologist, he used his research on young children as a springboard to a better understanding of the human personality. 
  
  Piaget proposed several stages of cognitive development in children: sensorimotor (using sensory and motor capabilities), pre-operational (using symbols and responding to objects and events based on how they appear to us), concrete operations (thinking logically), and formal operations (thinking about thinking). Piaget proposed that children grow and develop through each of these stages until they can reason logically.
  
  The Atkinson-Shriffin model is the most widely accepted cognitive psychology theory. It is also known as the stage theory.
  This information-processing approach to memory proposed a multi-store process that quickly became the standard. The model proposes that material from the sensory memory passes to short-term memory (STM). Verbal information in STM is encoded acoustically and these memories can be lost within about 30 seconds unless they are somehow repeated.
  
  More...............................  Cognitivism