Final answer:
Behaviorists emphasize the role of environmental stimuli in shaping behavior, considering cognition as a 'black box' and not the primary factor in behavioral studies. However, the cognitive revolution reintroduced mental processes into psychological inquiry, diverging from the strict behaviorist view.
Step-by-step explanation:
The most accurate summary of the behaviorist contribution to cognitive psychology is that behaviorists emphasize the role of environmental stimuli in shaping behavior. This perspective views behavior as a product of learned associations between stimuli and responses, where internal mental states are not considered primary influences on behavior. Behaviorists, like B. F. Skinner, dismissed the significance of cognition, referring to the mind as a 'black box' that couldn't be scientifically analyzed and consequently should not be the focus of psychological studies.
However, cognitive psychology, which developed during the cognitive revolution in the mid-20th century, challenged these ideas by reintroducing an interest in the internal mental processes that behaviorism had long neglected. The works of psychologists like Edward C. Tolman and Albert Bandura integrated cognitive processes into our understanding of behavior, suggesting learning can occur without immediate reinforcement and through observational means, respectively.