Define cognition

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: • Describe cognition • Distinguish concepts and prototypes • Explain the difference between natural and artificial concepts Imagine all of your thoughts as if they were physical entities, swirling rapidly inside your mind. How is it possible that the brain is able to move from one thought to the next in an organized, orderly fashion? The brain is endlessly perceiving, processing, planning, organizing, and remembering—it is always active. Yet, you don’t notice most of your brain’s activity as you move throughout your daily routine. The infinite amount of sub-routines we organize every day to make up larger behaviors such as driving, operating machinery, participating in sports or even holding conversations (all relatively new behaviors in terms of the evolution of a species) go unnoticed but together allow us to navigate our environment safely and efficiently. There are facets to the multitude of complex processes involved in human cognition and what we understand about animal thought processes. Simply put, cognition is thinking, and it encompasses the processes associated with perception, knowledge, problem-solving, judgment, language, and memory. Scientists who study cognition are searching for ways to understand how we integrate, organize, and utilize our conscious cognitive experiences without being aware of all of the unconscious work that our brains are doing (for example, Kahneman, 2011). COGNITIVE ...

• 59.Introduction • 60.What Is Personality? • 61.Freud and the Psychodynamic Perspective • 62.Neo-Freudians: Adler, Erikson, Jung, and Horney • 63.Learning Approaches • 64.Humanistic Approaches • 65.Biological Approaches • 66.Trait Theorists • 67.Cultural Understandings of Personality • 68.Personality Assessment • XII. Social Psychology • 88.Introduction • 89.What Are Psychological Disorders? • 90.Diagnosing and Classifying Psychological Disorders • 91.Perspectives on Psychological Disorders • 92.Anxiety Disorders • 93.Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders • 94.Posttraumatic Stress Disorder • 95.Mood Disorders • 96.Schizophrenia • 97.Dissociative Disorders • 98.Personality Disorders • 99.Disorders in Childhood • XVI. Therapy and Treatment Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: • Describe cognition • Distinguish concepts and prototypes • Explain the difference between natural and artificial concepts Imagine all of your thoughts as if they were physical entities, swirling rapidly inside your mind. How is it possible that the brain is able to move from one thought to the next in an organized, orderly fashion? The brain is endlessly perceiving, processing, planning, organizing, and remembering—it is always active. Yet, you don’t notice most of your brain’s activity as you move throughout your daily routine. This is only one facet of the complex processes involved in cognition. Simply put, cognition is thinking, and it encompasses the processe...