Cognition

Cognition Definition

Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in thinking, knowing, and understanding. It constitutes a fundamental aspect of mental life, distinguishing conscious thought processes from the unconscious realm. While often discussed alongside emotion, cognition is typically understood as one component of experience, alongside feeling or affect.

Components of Mental Life

Mental life can be broadly divided into two primary components: cognition (the process of knowing or thinking) and feeling (emotion). Cognition encompasses specific mental functions such as perception, memory, language, and problem-solving.

Cognitive Triad

In a broader sense, the mental processes can be viewed in a triad comprising thinking, affect (emotion), and conation or volition (striving).

Academic Disciplines

The study of cognition is central to several academic fields. In psychology, it is typically investigated through areas such as perception, memory, language, and problem-solving. Cognitive anthropology focuses on the complex interrelationship between knowledge, language, and culture, examining how meanings attributed to events in one culture are expressed through language, often referencing concepts like the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology represents a dominant approach within academic psychology, focusing specifically on how information is processed and handled. This field frequently employs computer models to study these processes, having subsequently transformed older behaviourist approaches.