What were the early signs of a cognitive revolution in psychology?
A glance at the evolution of the cognitive psychology provides a feeling that it might have undergone a quick transition over a short duration of time to transform the primitive psychological thoughts. The movement was, however, very quiet, the changes occurring slowly in about 15 years. There were no drum beating; in fact, one of the psychologists claimed that the term revolutionary is very improper for this change.
Also, the cognitive psychology was not developed single handedly, by only one leader, and that too overnight. It took a long time and involved many researchers. These researchers did not have any intention to carry out a movement, but they wanted to just redefine the psychology. Ulric Niesser and George Miller were considered as the great contributors to the development of the cognitive psychology.
In 1951 Miller and his colleague Bruner established a laboratory, where they investigated about the human mind. Ulric Niesser was the student of Miller and studied cognitive psychology with him. He described that to achieve academic degree he could not escape from the behaviorism. This happened because each and every theory has to be proved on rats. Hence, after sometime he wrote a book, which was somewhat personal about his own behavior and his objectives.
After sometime he wrote a book, cognitive psychology. Then, a few years later he wrote another book, cognition and reality. He proposed that the psychology must not be limited to the laboratory settlements, but must be applied in the real world. In addition, he also insisted the psychologists to apply their findings in the real world, so that the common people could get benefitted to tackle their day-to-day activities.