Theoretical Reflection on the Cognitivist School: The Subject, Mental Processes, and Information Processing

Abstract

The emergence of the Cognitivist School is linked to various epistemological challenges to the behaviorist paradigm. The consolidation of this perspective was driven by two key pillars: technological advancements in computer science and cybernetics, and the development of the information-processing approach, alongside theoretical and methodological contributions. The objective of this study was to describe the trajectory of the cognitive school by systematizing its main milestones. Based on a descriptive literature review, the study sought to represent and interpret findings from classic and contemporary literature, which reveal that the development of this school of psychology was not an isolated event, but rather the consequence of a succession of historical, intellectual, and methodological processes that radically transformed how human behavior was understood. Furthermore, these contributions were fundamental in establishing the notion that thought can be studied scientifically through explicit processing models and in developing methods and techniques that, supported by various subdisciplines, continue to expand knowledge in the 21st century. Its focus on the study of mental states, artificial intelligence, and ethology, among other topics, has driven remarkable progress in psychological science by generating conceptual innovation within its theoretical models.