ABSTRACT
The current state of affairs in cognitive psychology is characterized roughly by two approaches.
The first approach is the view of information processing which goes back to the “cognitive turn” psychology took in the 1960s (Miller et al., 1960). At the heart of the information processing view is the notion of computation of mental symbols which represent real-world entities (Fodor, 1975). The mechanisms of cognition are supposed to be implemented as cybernetic control of hierarchical feedback loops (Carver and Scheier, 1982). Motivational variables and intervening variables (like self-efficacy expectations: Bandura, 1986) result from perceived discrepancies of actual state and goal state. Computer science and classical AI have been important driving forces for the introduction of the information processing framework in psychology.
