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Explain the limitations of behaviorism that prompted the cognitive revolution. Provide three pieces of evidence supporting the necessity of internal mental representations.

User Ghigo
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Final answer:

Behaviorism's focus on observable behavior ignored internal mental processes, leading to the cognitive revolution which reintroduced the study of the mind in psychology due to evidence from latent learning, language structure critique, and neurological impacts on behavior.

Step-by-step explanation:

The limitations of behaviorism, which solely focused on observable behavior and neglected internal mental processes, led to the cognitive revolution that shifted psychology's focus back to the mind. First, evidence from Tolman's experiments with rats suggested that there are cognitive aspects to learning, such as expectations and internal representations, which behaviorism could not account for. Second, the work of Noam Chomsky criticized behaviorism's lack of attention to the inherent structure of language, implying the existence of innate mental structures. Lastly, the mounting neurological evidence, including changes in behavior due to brain injuries, suggested that behavior is also dependent on internal cognitive and biological processes.

Behaviorism's limits became evident when phenomena like latent learning and cognitive dissonance showed that internal mental activity was not just ancillary but played an essential role in understanding human behavior and learning. The influence of neural processes on behavior and the interdisciplinary nature of the cognitive sciences further underscored the need for psychology to incorporate mental functioning into its purview. The cognitive revolution, hence, was a movement to recenter the scientific study of the mind within psychology.

User Patrick Cullen
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