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Cognitive Development: the cognitive (mental) changes which take place as person gets older.

Cognitive-Developmental theories attempt to describe and explain how someone’s thinking changes with age. Much of the focus in Cognitive Developmental research has tended to be on the development of children’s mental abilities. Jean Piaget’s (1923) theory of cognitive development is arguably the most well-known of these.

Ostensibly Cognitive-Developmental might seem very similar in concept to Psychodynamic; but, in practice, the two approaches are usually very different.

Cognitive Developmental tends to focus on how the mind works - eg: memory, attention, perception, intelligence and - and tends to be based on hard, experimental research. Psychodynamic, on the other hand, has an emphasis on motivation and morality and is often based on observation and inference. That said, Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development (1963) is often considered a Cognitive-Developmental theory. The Graves Model (1971/2002) and its Spiral Dynamics (1996) build can be seen as both Cognitive-Developmental and Psychodynamic.

 

Cognitive Dissonance: the unpleasant state an individual experiences when they hold two schemas (ideas, beliefs, attitudes) which are psychologically inconsistent with each other.

 

Cognitive Labelling Theory: the concept developed by Stanley Schachter & Jerome Singer (1962) that emotional experiences are preceded by a generalised state of physiological arousal which is then given a 'label' according to the context in which the experience takes place and with reference to similar past experiences.
In other words, existing schemas will provide (usually) a frame of reference by which we make sense of what we feel about our experiences.

 

Cognitive Map: a mental representation of of a location or learning situation.

 

Cognitive Primacy: put forward by Magda Arnold (1960), this is the notion that what you think of a situation - your cognitive appraisal - will determine your emotional response - how you feel about it.

Cognitive Psychology: this approach links internal mental processes to behaviour and thus attempts to understand how those processes work. Memory, perception, thoughts, language and attention are all topics that the Cognitive approach works to understand. With the advent of computers, many Cognitive psychologists have used data processing analogies to understand mental processes. NLP draws much from the Cognitive approach.

 

Cognitive Therapies: forms of therapy which attempt to change a client’s faulty thoughts and beliefs (schemas) as a way of treating maladaptive behaviour.

Cognitive therapies have tended to subsumed recently within the umbrella concept of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy.

 

Cognitive Triad: developed in essence by Lyn Abramson, Martin Seligman & John Teasdale (1978) and popularised as a key analytical tool by Aaron Beck (1978), this model looks at how people attribute the causes of problems and the consequent effect on mental health (particularly Depression). The 3 factors are:-

• Internal/External - do I attribute success/failure to myself or to other people/circumstances?
• Timeless/Timbound (aka Stable/Unstable) - is the cause permanent or will it come to an end?
• Global/Specific - does it apply to a wide range of situations - perhaps even everything?- or does it apply to one particular scenario?

People suffering from Depression often attribute success to others, failure to themselves and have a global/timeless perception of their problems.
The Cognitive Triad can be linked with the Meta-States model to understand how belief systems are formed.

 

Cognitive Windback: the taking back of someone in their thought processes to look at the decisions which led to an (unpleasant/unhealthy) effect so that alternatives can be considered as a means of reflective learning.

 

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): an approach in Psychotherapy developed from the work of such leading Cognitive psychologists as Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, CBT focuses on tackling the maladaptive schemas which undermine self-esteem and self-efficacy, underpin depressive behaviour and fuel phobias.
The many varieties of CBT in essence focus on challenging the reality of unhealthy beliefs and helping clients assimilate more helpful beliefs. Usually Behaviourist strategies are used concurrently to assist in breaking down unrewarding or self-defeating habits in thought and behaviour - such as avoidant behaviour (a form of Negative Reward) - and setting up more positive activity patterns.
Programmes of CBT have been shown unequivocally to be as effective as medication - and without the side-effects! - in treating many phobias and mild-medium Depression. CBT is often used as a concurrent strategy with medication in dealing with forms of Schizophrenia and Manic Depressive Psychosis.

 

Collaborative Empiricism: a cognitive therapy procedure in which the therapist formulates a hypothesis and then helps the client test the validity of the hypothesis

 

Collective Unconscious: according to Carl Gustav Jung, this is a part of our unconscious which we share with other members of our culture and which is ‘peopled’ with common archetypes. It is said to be an innate remnant of our ancestral past.

 

Collectivism: the notion that members of the family/tribal unit/societal grouping put the interests of the group before self-interest.

Individuals in collectivist environments tend to share tasks, belongings and income. Interdependence is usually highly valued. There is an emphasis on ‘we’ as opposed to ‘I’.

 

Colonialism: the political - and usually military - annexation of territories by a dominant power, the annexed territories then being clearly defined as subordinate in status.

Local political and governmental authorities and institutions are either replaced by colonial authorities (direct rule) or incorporated into the colonial power structure (indirect rule). Historically Colonialism usually has been accompanied by economic exploitation of the subordinate territories - and economic motivators have at times been the primary drivers for colonial expansion, as per the British creeping annexation of India in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries.

Communal Relationship: Margaret Clark & Judson Mills (1979) distinguished this kind of relationship, in which the participants focus on meeting the other's needs, from 'economic' concepts such as Social Exchange Theory and Equity Theory.
The behavioural patterns of a Communal Relationship are likely to be governed more by the vMEMES of the conformist/sacrifice-self side of the Spiral.

Communism: a political system and set of beliefs that stresses shared ownership of property by the group or community.

 

Companionate Love: more than liking, this term suggests an entwined relationship - though not the ups and downs of passionate love. This is said to be the kind of love shared between close family and close friends.

It develops through mutual rewards, familiarity, steady and positive emotions, and tends to deepen over time. Kin Selection may also be a prime influence in developing companionate love with close family members.

 

Complementarity: opposites attract! - the concept that couples are drawn together based on the different qualities that each partner possesses.

Eg: a shy person might be attracted to an outgoing person who is confident in social gatherings.

 

Complementary Transaction: in Transactional Analysis, complementary transactions occur when both people are at the same level.

Eg: Parent talking to Parent, etc. Because both are often thinking in the same way, communication is easy. Problems usually occur in crossed transactions, where the other person is at a different level.

 

Complexity Theory: addresses the study of complex systems. It includes subjects such as chaos theory, artificial life and algorhythms and draws upon fields such as Mathematics, Engineering, Biology and Philosophy.

 

Compliance: a form of social influence in which direct requests are made from one person to another.

 

Comorbidity: the presence of 2 or more disorders in a given individual at the same time.

Concordance Rate: the degree to which a condition occurs in two settings, people or groups of people. Concordance rates from studies of monozygotic twins - from the same egg, having identical genotypes - are considered the most accurate in determining the likely genetic element in the predisposition to develop a wide range of conditions, from cancer to Schizophrenia.

 

Conduct Disorders: a general psychiatric classification encompassing a variety of behaviour patterns in which the person affected repetitively and persistently violates the rights, privileges and privacy of others.

 

Conduction Aphasia: see arcuate fasciculus.

 

Confirmation Bias: a preference for information (incoming memes) that supports, rather than contradicts, our predictions and assumptions (schemas).

 

Conformity: a form of Social Influence where group pressure (real or imagined) results in a change of behaviour - but not necessarily attitudes.

 

Confounding Variable: see variable.

 

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: a syndrome in which the adrenal cortices are unable to produce cortisone as normal and release excess adrenal androgens instead. Females affected are born with masculinised genitals; affected males have normal genitalia.

Regulated doses of cortisone can control the effects and allow normal sexual and reproductive functions to develop - though surgical intervention may ben necessary to feminise the genitalia of affected girls.

 

Congruence: see incongruence.

 

Connectionism: in Cognitive Psychology, the study of cognitive processes on the assumption that a system (such as a brain) operates as though it were a network of interconnected nodes. Each node, when activated, will have either an excitatory or inhibitory effect.

 

Conscious Mind: is said to be those things of which we are aware - paying attention to in Cognitive Psychology terms - including self-awareness (thought to be a primary distinguishing feature of the 'higher animals'). The conscious mind can be said to be using what is in short-term memory.

 

Conservation: the logical rule that quantity does not change even the display of the quantity is transformed - ie: the quantity is conserved.

 

Constructivism: a view of cognitive development which suggests that the child builds up a mental model of the world and the processes which happen.

 

Content Analysis: a kind of observational study where behaviour is observed indirectly in written or broadcast material.

It is possible to count the frequency of particular behaviours using categories. Counting is a quantitative activity but choosing the categories is a qualitative activity.

 

Content Validity: a means of assessing the validity or trueness of a psychological test.

It aims to demonstrate that the content of the test represents the area of interest.

 

Context-Dependent Recall: where recall of some material is improved if recall takes place in the same context as where the material was first learned.

 

Continuity Hypothesis: based on John Bowlby’s (1969 concept of the Internal Working Model, the idea that the quality of the infant’s first relationship (usually with mother) will provide a template (healthy or unhealthy) for all future relationships.

A number of studies into friendships - eg: Peter LaFreniere & Alan Sroufe (1987) and Rowan Myron-Wilson & Peter Smith (1988) - as well as Cindy Hazan & Phil Shaver’s famous ‘Love Quiz’ investigations (1987 and 1993)  into adult love styles have provided strong evidence for the Continuity Hypothesis. However, it is clear that not everyone’s template is guaranteed to stay exactly the same. See also the Strange Situation.

 

Control Group: in an experiment with an independent groups design the control group is not treated with the independent variable and, therefore can be compared with the experimental group.

 

Controlled Observation: an observation carried out in carefully-controlled conditions, usually in a laboratory setting.

 

Core: see Capitalist World Metropolis.

 

Corporate Group: a group (eg: a descent group), which does or owns something together.

 

Corpus Callosum: the bundle of nerve fibres which connects the right and left hemispheres of the cerebrum. The corpus callosum tends to be thicker in most female brains, indicating more connections between the two halves. This is considered to be a key reason for women (in general!) having better organised brains.

 

Correlation: a measure of the extent to which 2 covariables are related and jointly change together.

 

Correspondent Inference Theory: a theory of attribution which suggests that we explain the behaviour of others by making observations and inferring a corresponding attitude or disposition.

 

Corticotropin-Release Factor: a hormone produced by the hypothalamus in response to stress. This stimulates the anterior pituitary gland to secrete its hormones.

Cortisol: hormone produced in the adrenal glands associated with elevated and elongated levels of physiological arousal, usually due to stress.

 

Counterbalancing: an experimental procedure used to overcome order effects.

The method ensures that each condition in an experiment is equally likely to be used first and second by participants, thus balancing order effects. Eg: participant A experiences condition 1 first, then 2; participant B experiences condition 2 first, then 1.

Covariable: see variable.

 

Covariation Theory: Harold Kelley’s (1967) theory of attribution which proposes that explanations for behaviour are based on the tendency for two things to vary jointly - ie: covary.

 

Co-Evolution: where 2 forms of behaviour, such as those of prey and predator, evolve together because change in one behaviour acts as a form of selective pressure on the other.