2.1 Introducing Cognitive Psychology
Imagine the following situation in a settlement mediation
Let’s take a quick peek at the basics of cognitive psychology and then look again at what is happening in the mediation room with Adam and Kelly. Most generally, cognitive psychology is concerned with the study of mental processes such as thinking, learning, remembering, perception, information processing, language, problem-solving, decision-making and reasoning (Kassin et al., 2020). Cognitive psychology also considers people’s emotions and the impact of emotions on cognitive processes. Keeping this in mind, let’s go back to Adam and Kelly and see which cognitive processes are most likely involved/required in this mediation and which emotions are likely to affect them. You might want to try to identify some of the cognitive processes listed above for the case scenario with Adam and Kelly first.
Based on information from the separated couple Adam and Kelly (producing this information would have required memory), the mediator has listed all assets on the whiteboard and has noted the corresponding values. Adam and Kelly are looking at the whiteboard (involves visual perception, attention, language recognition and processing) as they present their needs and goals regarding the assets (requiring spoken language and language comprehension, auditory perception, information processing). Afterwards, they start negotiation to settle their property (requiring spoken language and language comprehension, auditory perception, attention, information processing and decision-making). Each of them would like to maximise their share of the property (requires basic mathematic competencies). Adam has made the first offer to Kelly as to how to sell their house (language, reasoning). After hearing his offer, Kelly is crying and is covering both eyes with her hands. Adam is clenching his handwritten list of assets and is staring at the floor with a stony face (lots of emotions involved! Besides processing the experience of their emotions, Kelly and Adam are likely to also engage in thinking, information processing and decision-making).
As you may have noticed, multiple mental processes and emotions are involved when people try to resolve conflicts (and these mental processes and emotions are likely to have contributed to and have been affected by the conflict in the first place). In terms of cognition, you would have most likely identified perceptions (visual and auditory), spoken language and language comprehension, information processing, thinking, reasoning, decision-making and basic mathematic competencies. In terms of emotions, it is highly likely that during the mediation both Adam and Kelly would feel intense emotions, which they may have labelled as resentment, anger and disappointment with the other, feeling hurt by what the other has said or done, sadness overall, regret over having entered this relationship in the first place, threat to their self-image, entitlement to the best possible outcome for themselves, fear/concerns about their financial, material, social and emotional situation, perhaps even continuing romantic feelings of one party for the other as they come to terms with their breakup, among many more emotions (while you couldn’t deduct all these emotions from the brief scenario, they are quite typical for parties in a settlement mediation).
Understanding in detail the cognitive processes involved in and required when parties try to resolve conflict, like during a mediation, and understanding the impact of emotions on these processes, can help practitioners support conflict parties. Furthermore, people working in conflict management may want to increase their understanding of how cognition and the impact of emotions on mental processes may have started and fostered the conflict in the first place. Cognitive psychology can help with both dimensions.
Cognitive psychologists aim to understand how the mind operates to achieve certain behaviours. Modern methods of cognitive psychology research assume that the mind is an information processing system embedded in the human brain. The brain and the mind are viewed as being closely interlinked and together, they cause human behaviour. As previously noted, cognitive psychology focuses on the mind, while neuroscience focuses more on the brain and its biology. Neuroscience plays a critical role in studying the mind, and we will frequently consider brain functions (as described in neuroscience) as they relate to cognitive processes and emotions discussed in this eBook.
Please watch the following video [10:41] to learn more about cognition. While you are watching, please start thinking about how cognition may relate to people in conflict.
You may also want to watch this video [4:45] to learn more about what cognitive psychologists do:
You may also wish to deepen your understanding of cognition and cognitive psychology by engaging with the following reading:
Key Reading
The Cognitive Mind
As you learned earlier, cognitive psychologists are interested in the functioning of the human mind, and a better understanding of the human mind in conflict is one of the aims of this eBook. But what exactly is “the mind”? How we talk about and conceptualise the term “mind” differs depending on the culture that influenced our upbringing and life. For example, in Western cultures, the mind is frequently viewed as having two distinct features of thoughts and emotions, while some other cultures do not make that distinction (Feldman Barrett, 2020). Feldman Barrett (2020) notes, for example, that people from the Balinese culture or the Ilongot culture in the Philippines experience the mind as a blend of emotions and thoughts. It’s important to understand that our cultures shape our conceptualisation of the mind and that this again influences our behaviours and our evaluations of the behaviours of others.
Joseph LeDoux, a leading neuroscientist on emotions and author of “The emotional brain” (1996) notes in his book that “the idea of what the mind is has changed a number of times since the early Greeks …” (p. 39). One popular definition of the mind used in cognitive psychology explains that the mind operates by creating representations to help people act, interact, and achieve their goals (Goldstein, 2019). To learn more about the various processes involved in these representations, we will now consider how we use the term “mind” in everyday language:
- That has totally left my mind. (remembering)
- I will put my mind to that and come up with a solution. (problem-solving)
- I haven’t made up my mind yet about what to have for dinner. (reasoning and making decisions)
These examples indicate that the mind involves (but is not limited to) various cognitive processes, including problem-solving, memory, decision-making, perception, attention, language, and reasoning (Goldstein, 2019). As we saw in the introductory chapter of this eBook, all of these processes are in some way affected by and involved in the experience of conflict and conflict resolution. We will consider all of these processes in this chapter and the next one, some with more detail and, some with less detail.
Now that you have been reminded of the range of cognitive processes that are frequently included when we refer to the human mind, let’s go back and consider some further ways of talking about the mind. Can you figure out which cognitive processes we allude to when using the term ‘mind’ in the following phrases?
- I have a lot on my mind right now.
- Why did you do that? Are you out of your mind?
- Let’s please be mindful and not jump the gun with this decision.
- Mindlessly, they started to destroy the property.
- She was mindless of the knocking on the door.
Besides these cognitive processes, our mind also includes our emotions. Contemporary neuroscience and psychology recognise that cognition and emotions are inseparably linked (Lempert & Phelps, 2016; Panksepp, 2008), and we will acknowledge this blend throughout this eBook. Nevertheless, LeDoux, in his book “The emotional brain” (1996) discusses compelling differences between emotions (as conceptualised in Western cultures) and cognition, which supports the appropriateness of discussing the “cognitive mind”, discussed in this chapter, and the “emotional mind”, discussed in the next chapter.
In this chapter, we will consider the “cognitive mind” as an umbrella term for multiple cognitions in a typical, developed human brain. At the same time, we need to acknowledge that every person’s mind is unique and that our mind is not limited to cognition. As we have learned in the previous chapter (and as we will learn throughout this whole eBook), the human brain, which is a core feature of the human mind, is shaped by a person’s genetic makeup and the environments in which they were raised (Feldman Barrett, 2020).
Reflection Activity
To capture some key learnings from this chapter, you may now wish to engage in a 15-minute personal reflection on cognitive psychology and how it may relate to conflict management. You might want to consider the following prompt questions for your reflection:
- Which of the mental processes mentioned above appear to be particularly relevant for conflict that typically occurs in your profession?
- After watching “Cognition – How Your Mind Can Amaze and Betray You: Crash Course Psychology #15”, what are some preliminary thoughts as to how knowledge from cognitive psychology may help analyse and manage conflict?
After reading “What is Cognition”? in G. Mullin, (n.d.). Introduction to Psychology (see above), can you identify an example of how one of the “concepts” that you hold and use to make sense of the world around you may have contributed to a conflict situation?
