RECENT CHANGES IN THE CONCEPT OF COGNITION

Psychological theory is currently undergoing a change more profound th an the 'cognitive revolution' of the 1950s and 1960s. The present chan ge involves a reconceptualization of the very concepts of cognition an d mind. Cognitive science and cognitive psychology are turning away fr om the long dominant view of mind as an encapsulated, rational entity, dissociated from the body. In the emergent view the mind is seen as a ctivity in an environment. This action-related reconceptualization of mind involves a break with the long western tradition of rationalism, as well as with a causal, mechanistic approach to psychological phenom ena, which can be contrasted with a functional or teleological one.