What does cognitivism mean?
Cognitivism is a noun naming one of the most influential intellectual positions of the twentieth century. In psychology and philosophy of mind, it is the view that human beings are best understood not merely by observing their outward behavior, but by studying their internal mental processes — perception, memory, attention, language, and reasoning. This stance crystallized during the so-called cognitive revolution of the 1950s and 1960s, when researchers increasingly rejected the strictures of behaviorism and embraced models of the mind as an information-processing system. In a second, distinct sense within ethics, cognitivism denotes the claim that moral judgments are genuine statements capable of being true or false, rather than mere expressions of feeling or preference. The term derives from the Latin root cognoscere, meaning 'to come to know,' and appears chiefly in academic writing on mind, learning theory, and moral philosophy.
nounThe philosophical and psychological position that mental states and processes are real and can be legitimately studied scientifically, especially through models of information processing. In ethics, it refers to the view that moral judgments are truth-apt statements capable of being true or false.
- In philosophy of mind and psychology: the view that mental processes (perception, memory, reasoning) are central to understanding behavior and can be studied scientifically.
- In metaethics: the doctrine that moral judgments express propositions that are true or false, as opposed to merely expressing attitudes.
"Cognitivism replaced behaviorism as the dominant paradigm in psychology during the 1960s."
"Chomsky's critique of Skinner helped establish cognitivism as psychology's new orthodoxy."
"Moral cognitivism holds that 'murder is wrong' asserts something that can be genuinely true."
Almost never pluralized; occasionally used to distinguish different varieties or schools of cognitivist thought.
"Scholars have distinguished several cognitivisms within early cognitive science."
Cognitivism didn't just win an argument — it launched the 'cognitive revolution' that gave us modern psychology, AI, and linguistics.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cognitivism
Cognitivism derives from the Latin verb cognoscere, meaning 'to become acquainted with' or 'to know,' formed from co- ('together') and gnoscere ('to know'). The English adjective cognitive entered the language in the sixteenth century via medieval Latin cognitivus, from cognitio, meaning knowledge or acquaintance. The noun cognitivism was coined in the twentieth century, gaining currency during the mid-century cognitive revolution in psychology and philosophy, alongside related terms such as behaviorism and structuralism. Its cognates include cognition, cognizant, recognize, and cognate itself.
Related word forms
How cognitivism is actually used
An academic term used primarily in philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, and education. It carries no strong connotation of approval or disapproval, though it is often invoked polemically against behaviorist or non-cognitivist positions.
Easily confused with cognitivism
Constructivism holds that learners actively build knowledge structures, whereas cognitivism is the broader view that internal mental processes exist and can be studied scientifically.
Behaviorism restricts scientific study to observable behavior and rejects appeals to inner mental states, which cognitivism explicitly embraces.