by Megan Morse

Created on: May 15, 2008   Last Updated: May 16, 2008

The theorists who developed what we know as Cognitive Perspective today found that thinking influences feelings and leads to behavior. The purpose of the Cognitive Perspective was to learn how to change one's thinking, in order to be able to change ones feelings and behavior. The theorists discovered this theory by studying memory, learning, planning, and decision making. The Cognitive Perspective has become one of the most well known and effective perspectives still explored by psychologists today.

One of the theorists was Jean Piaget, who discovered that there were four stages of cognitive development. The purpose of these stages is to categorize the stages of a person's cognitive development. The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, which is kicking and moving. The second stage is the preoperational stage, and an example is when a baby can think that their doll can actually walk. The third stage is the operational stage, where the child grows out of that belief, but they are still not able to be abstract. The fourth and final stage is the formal operational, which is when a person can use abstract thinking (thinking like a scientist).
Another popular theorist of this time was Martin Seligman, who believed that depression was a result of our thinking. The purpose of this research was to understand depression. He believed that thinking was pessimistic, was permanent, and pervasive.
George Miller believed that working memory has limited space. The purpose for looking at one's memory was to look at how to maximize brain functioning in terms of memory. He believed in the magical number seven, which was formed around the memory of young adults and seven elements or "chunks". These "chunks" are comprised of digits, letters, and words. One's memory depends of the category of chunks used, such as having a lower span for longer words, and vice versa. The span for verbal content depends on the time needed to be able to speak the words aloud and also depends on if the person knows the word that they are speaking (contributors, 2007).
Endel Tulving worked with memory, specifically long term memory, of which there are two types. The purpose of Tulving's research was to learn more about memory and how we think. There is the declarative memory, which is having the knowledge about the world, such as knowing one's birthday or being able to spell a word. There is also the procedural memory, which is what one uses when they learn how to do things, such as riding a bike or

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