Cognitive Revolution

The cognitive revolution was a period during the 1950s-1960s when cognitive psychology replaced Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis as the main approach in psychological fields. Increasing focus was placed on observable behaviors in conjunction with brain activity and structure.

During the cognitive revolution, more importance was placed on perception and memory such as the size capacity of working memory (which is what we are actively thinking of at the moment). Among the first disputes between behaviorists and cognitive psychologists was over language acquisition. Behaviorists believed that humans were born "blank slates" of language acquisition and that all language capabilities were learned through our environment. Noam Chomsky theorized that we have an innate capacity for language in our brains that we are all born with and that our capacity for language was inherent as well as learned. The term Cognitive Psychology became widespread in 1967 and the invention of brain imaging machines and computers allowed the field to grow rapidly due to increased research capabilities.