Learning objectives

In this chapter you will learn about the reasons why cognition, which was basic to early interests in scientific psychology, underwent repression and the circumstances that led to its reinstatement as a valid concern.

  • The stultifying influence of the behaviorists will be considered along with the factors that led to the ultimate transcendence of the anti-mentalism and radical objectivism that came to prevail.
  • The impact of communications engineering and computers and the subsequent mechanistic modelling of mind will be discussed along with the work in artificial intelligence.
  • Questions about whether humans can rightly be equated with computers will be considered and we will end with a consideration of the problem of individualism in cognitive psychology.