The Impact of Cognitive and Psychodynamic Perspectives on The Development of Memory

There are five major theoretical perspectives of psychology that can impact human memory. These perspectives include cognitive, psychodynamic, biological, behavioral, and humanistic. This essay will focus on the cognitive and psychodynamic perspective to analyze and evaluate the development and understanding of memory.

The understanding of mental process in memory, thinking, perspective, problem-solving in relation to behavior is cognitive perspective. The difference in individual’s behavior and the way they belief, and process information are related to cognitive personality. Consequently, an individual will make little effort to accomplish their goal. The possible explanation for the little effort motivation is that the individual has low self-efficacy. The related individual may assume that they do not have the ability to accomplish their goal, and therefore makes a little effort.

The theory of Jean Piaget cognitive development concentrates on the different phases of increase and the capacity of the child to obtain knowledge. On mental development, Piaget considered that children develop through their personal interactions or relations. Schemas are often used to acquire knowledge by children. According to Piaget, the development phase is the blue-print for normal intellectual development, including sensorimotor, concrete operational, preoperational and formal operational. Sensorimotor is the experimental and human interactions with their surroundings. During the preoperational stages, children develop memory, imagination and language skills. In concrete operational stage, the logical reasoning and awareness of external awareness are developed. Children often engage with abstract concepts such as justice during the operational stages.

Erikson thought of psychosocial established the study that has impact of external factors, parenting and society on personality growth from childhood to adulthood. Erikson laid articulate on the five steps of human development through age 18, which are industry (competence) versus inferiority, autonomy versus shame and doubt, trust versus mistrust, initiative versus guilt, industry, and identity versus confusion. Erikson considers every child passes through the stages as they become adults, learn about the world and obtain various personalities. Cognitive psychology findings has improved our understanding of how people forms, store and recall memories. Through knowledge of the process, psychology can develop new ways of helping people to improve their memories and diffuse potential memory problems.

The psychodynamic psychology emphasizes on the systematic study of the psychological forces that influences human behavior, feelings, emotions, and how they might relate to early experience. Sigmund Freud originated psychodynamic theory as a therapy for patients, explains that psychological process are flows of psychological energy in a complicated brain. It responds to a more reductionist approach of biology, structured and functioning psychology movements. The perspective replicates a suspended body back towards more comprehensive, systematic and theoretical concepts and their influence on a more concrete behaviors with action. Freud’s analysis assumes most part of our mental life operates at unconscious level, which means thoughts and ideas we are not consciously aware. An example is a slip of tongue, and accidents have an unconscious rationale. The thoughts are held in the unconscious repressed by a defence mechanism, where painful or disturbing memories are unconsciously forgotten. Freud showed interest on the interpretation of dream, centered on repressed notion. The belief that we can sort through unresolved, repressed wishes through dreams. Dreaming is seen as having both developing thoughts and manifesting content. The development of thoughts relates to deep unconscious wishes, while manifest content is superficial and worthless.

The conscious processes include several theories, like the threat simulation, expected fulfillment, activation synthesis and continual activation theory. Incubation is one of the application processes of unconsciousness in relation to problem-solving. The idea of “sleeping on a problem” or not active and unconsciously resolving problems to enable one’s conscious process to resolve the problem.

In conclusion, psychodynamic are the behavior that are presented by individual in unconsciousness and cannot be controlled. On the other hand, cognitive supports that behavior can be learned and controlled as through processed information and mental changes in important ways over time. Although psychodynamic way of acting can be fixed, however, different parts of the mind are steady dynamic efforts with each other, impacting personal control of their way of behaving. Therefore, the notion makes psychodynamic unscientific as it is unmeasurable, or modified. However, cognitive is considered as scientific due to the similarity with the brain and the computer where knowledge can be operated. Unlike cognitive, psychodynamic are center of attention on early childhood behavior mainly.

In differentiating both theories, different approaches were applied to determine mental illness or mal-adjust behaviors. Similarly, both theories were used to define the mental state of an individual and a way to control it. Psychologists are trying to develop and improve these perspectives of therapy treatment for individuals to improve memory and their wellbeing for future practice.