The Eclipse of Meaning in Cognitive Psychology

Abstract

Humanistic psychology and cognitive psychology both originated in the 1950s, but whereas cognitive psychology has wielded great influence in mainstream psychology, humanistic psychology has not. Cognitive psychology is coming under question, such as in Jerome Bruner's Acts of Meaning, which represents a challenge to cognitive psychology by one of the founders of the discipline. Bruner's argument centers around the failure of cognitive science to carry out its original intent: namely, the elucidation of human meaning. This article enlarges on Bruner's ideas and their implications for humanistic psychology. It is in four sections. In the first section, the history and philosophical foundations of cognitive psychology are explored. In the second, cognitive psychology is examined from a substantive standpoint, and a historicist critique is introduced. In the third, the reasons for cognitive psychology's eclipse of meaning are elucidated. This argument centers around the concept of the self, which cognitive psychology fails to address. The relationship between the self and human meaning is explored. Additionally, a comparison is made between positivist and historicist science. The final section contains directions for a theory of the self that would both recapture the aspects of meaning lost in cognitive psychology and constitute a true paradigm shift. Humanistic psychology, concerned as it is with human meaning and consciousness, must work toward a paradigm shift that will do justice to its subject matter. It is argued that such a shift is the only way humanistic psychology can ensure that its subject matter will be preserved in research.