Ulric Neisser, The Father Of Cognitive Psychology
We recognize Ulric Neisser as the father of cognitive psychology. This branch of psychology studies the mental processes involved in learning. In 2002, the Review of General Psychology ranked Neisser 32nd among the most cited psychologists of the 20th century.
Uric Neisser devoted most of his life to the study of memory and other mental processes. In fact, his contribution to this field has been extremely relevant. Furthermore, a number of his claims are valid today.
Neisser was based on the principles of gestalt psychology, but then went his own way. The book that made him famous was Cognitive Psychology, published in 1967. Interestingly, and despite being the father of cognitive psychology, he strongly criticized the field in his work Cognition and Reality , in 1976.
Ulric Neisser, background
He was born in Kiel (Germany) on December 8, 1928. His father was Hans Neisser, a brilliant and wealthy economist. In fact, he foresaw Hitler’s rise in Europe. For this reason he emigrated to England and then to the United States in 1933.
Neisser’s mother was Charlotte Neisser. She was a sociologist who was very active in the women’s movement in Germany. Charlotte was a Catholic, but converted to Judaism when she married Hans. She had two children, Ulric and Marianne, who were four years older than Ulric. They followed Hans to England and all emigrated to the United States in 1933 where they settled permanently.
The family fit perfectly into their new country. Hans became very fond of baseball and encouraged his son Ulric to also become a fan. Ulric was described as a chubby little boy who was both cheerful and practical.
His career
Ulric trained as a psychologist at Harvard University. He graduated with top marks in 1950. Ulric inherited his father’s passion for baseball, although he did not show any ability to play sports himself. In fact, he once said that was why he first became interested in gestalt psychology, the least prominent school of psychology.
Neisser received his master’s degree in 1952 from Swarthmore College, one of the foremost centers for gestalt psychology. He received his doctorate from Harvard in 1956. His dissertation dealt with the unusual subject of psychophysics. Afterwards, he worked as a professor at Harvard for a year, and later at other academic centers. However, he eventually settled at Cornell University.
During these years he was strongly influenced by important figures in psychology such as George A. Miller, Hans Wallach and Abraham Maslow. He also met a young computer scientist named Oliver Selfridge. In fact, this was a crucial moment when he introduced Ulric to the topic of artificial intelligence. Ulric later went to the University of Pennsylvania where he wrote his masterpiece.
The contributions to Ulric Neisser
Neisser’s greatest contribution was in the understanding of memory. In fact, he tested a concept that is still valid today. This is the idea that human memory is a reconstruction of facts and not a snapshot of what is happening. In this sense, memory is creative, not like a machine. In other words, it takes the memories and processes them, as opposed to reproducing them faithfully.
Neisser also coined the term episodic memory. This is related to autobiographical memory. Together with semantic memory, the two form a declarative memory. We also know this as explicit memory. It is the memory that allows us to evoke specific events, as opposed to procedural memory where we remember ways of doing things.
Neisser used cases or experimental studies to elaborate on his theories. In fact, he elaborated on the concept of episodic memory by analyzing his conversations with John Dean, Nixon’s assistant, about Watergate.
Neisser was known for his studies of people’s memories of the 1986 earthquake in California and also the Challenger disaster when the space shuttle exploded.
He died on February 17, 2012 in New York of Parkinson’s disease. Neisser gave shape to the field of cognitive psychology. Today he is still one of the psychological greats.
