Cognitive and Psychoanalytical Psychology

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Introduction to Psychology

The cognitive and Psychoanalytic perspectives

There are a number of approaches in psychology and this essay will compare and contrast two of the major perspectives.  These will be the cognitive and psychoanalytic perspectives; it will also give an example of how psychology can be applied in a health care setting.

The cognitive perspective is easy to understand if one was to compare the human mind with a computer, the mind could be seen as an information processor and its job is to select and code information as well as storing and retrieving it when needed.

Jean Piaget studied the human mind and how it is capable of storing information in the form of “schemes” these are organised patterns of thought and actions used to represent the world. He also believed the mind went through four stages during childhood.

The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, and Piaget designated the first two years of infants life as the sensorimotor stage. ()

The second stage is called pre-operational  this stage happens between the ages of 2 – 7 years  during this period there is a continued development and use of internal images, symbols and language. This is important for the child to develop the sense of self awareness. (Gross, 5th edition)

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The next stage is concrete operational stage. This stage typically occurs between the ages of 7 and 12.

During this stage, the child begins to reason logically, and organize thoughts coherently. However, they can only think about actual physical objects, they cannot handle abstract reasoning. ()  

The formal operational stage is the fourth and final stage in Piaget's theory. It begins at approximately 11 to 12 years of age, and continues throughout adulthood; although Piaget does point out that some people may never reach this stage of cognitive development. ()

Piaget felt that all children go through certain ...

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