An introduction to the philosophical foundations of Cognitive Psychology

Abstract

With the occurrence of the so-called “Cognitive Revolution”, in the middle of the 20th century, a new field of knowledge entitled Cognitivism emerged, which has cognition as its object of study and the rigor of scientific methods as its means of investigation. Since then, Cognitivism has become an important theoretical orientation in Psychology, covering areas such as Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Neuroscience, Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence. As with all approaches, Cognitive Psychology, which is the focus of analysis in this work, is also based on a backdrop of philosophical assumptions, which are still little explored in academia. Aiming to fill this gap, the objective of this theoretical article is to describe, in an introductory way, the ontological, epistemological and methodological foundations of Cognitive Psychology, with a view to deepening the theoretical and methodolo-gical understanding of the theme addressed. The following are presented: 1) the ontological foundations of Cognitive Psychology, contemplating its vision of the world and of the Human Being; 2) exposition of the epistemological assump-tions of Cognitive Psychology, characterizing the nature, method and limits of knowledge; and 3) the methodological foundations of Cognitive Psychology, through its individual focus, multidisciplinary research and four stages of the research process. Therefore, knowing and understanding these fundamentals can help in understanding the perspec-tive from which Cognitive Psychology adopts to study and explain psychological functioning, considering its logic, its scope, as well as the inherent limits of such fundamentals.