Key Difference – Cognitive vs Behavioral Psychology
Cognitive and Behavioral psychology are two subfields of psychology, each with a unique focus. Cognitive psychology is a branch that is concerned with human cognition, while Behavioral psychology is all about human behavior. The main difference between them is the focal areas that each field explores. This article attempts to provide a clearer understanding of the two fields.
What is Cognitive Psychology?
Cognitive psychology is a relatively new subfield of psychology that has gained significant recognition and improvement in recent years. It focuses on specific areas such as memory, perception, attention, learning, decision-making, language acquisition, problem-solving, and forgetting. Cognitive psychologists conduct research to improve mental processes, including memory, decision-making, and learning. Some key psychologists in this field are Edward B, Titchener, Wolfgang Kohler, Wilhelm Wundt, Jean Piaget, and Noam Chomsky.
What is Behavioral Psychology?
Behavioral psychology emerged in the 1950s and prioritizes human behavior over any other component. According to behaviorists, observable factors should be given prominence over unobservable processes such as human cognition. Key figures in Behavioral psychology include John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, B. F. Skinner, Clark Hull, and Edward Thorndike. Behaviorists believe that conditioning plays a crucial role in the acquisition of behavior, and they identify two main types of conditioning: Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning.
What is the difference between Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology?
– Cognitive Psychology focuses on human cognitive processes, while Behavioral Psychology centers on behavior.
– Cognitive Psychology emerged in the 1960s, whereas Behavioral Psychology emerged in the 1950s.
– Some key figures in Cognitive Psychology include Edward B, Titchener, Wolfgang Kohler, Wilhelm Wundt, Jean Piaget, and Noam Chomsky, while John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, B. F. Skinner, Clark Hull, and Edward Thorndike are key figures in Behavioral Psychology.
