Cognitive Processes in Psychology

Mental Phenomena

• Mental phenomena include mental processes, states, and properties
• Mental processes are formed through an individual's interaction with the environment

Cognitive Processes

• There are eight types of cognitive processes in psychology
• Sensation: the cognitive function that allows us to reflect on objects and phenomena through the senses
• Perception: the cognitive function that allows us to make out the meaning of information
• Attention: the cognitive function that allows us to selectively focus on a particular stimulus
• Memory: the cognitive function that allows us to code, store, and recover information from the past
• Thinking: the cognitive function that involves ideas, images, mental representations, or other hypothetical elements of thought
• Speech: the cognitive function, as a system of human sounds, written signs, and symbols used to represent, process, store and transmit verbal information
• Imagination: the cognitive function that allows us to form images, ideas, and sensations in the mind based on past perception

Emotions

• Emotions reflect the surrounding world
• Paul Ekman proposed seven basic emotions: sad, joy, anger, surprise, fear, disgust, contempt
• Emotion typically involves feeling and differs from having an overt or implicit engagement with the world
• Emotion (unconscious) is a short-term mental phenomena, feeling (conscious) is a long-term mental phenomena

Will (Volition)

• Will is a conscious management of behavior and activities
• It is expressed by the ability to make decisions and overcome internal and external difficulties on the way to achieving the aim
• Any voluntary action has its own motive (cause) that motivates (directs) and gives motivation (energy) to be active on the way to achieving the aim

Mental States

• Mental states are the condition or status of an entity or system at a particular time
• Emotional states include anxiety, frustration, stress, affect, etc.

Mental Properties

• Mental properties are typical characteristics of a person's peculiarities
• Examples of mental properties include character, temperament, ability, and skill

Understand the cognitive processes that influence behavior, including mental processes, states, and properties. Learn how they are formed through individual interaction with the environment and their role in complex mental activities.