The early 1960s marked a period of significant change in the field of psychology. Behaviorism had long dominated the landscape, with its focus on observable actions and its belief that all behavior could be understood through conditioning and environmental influences. The behaviorist mantra was simple: study what you can see and measure, and avoid speculating about unobservable internal processes like thoughts or emotions.
The cultural atmosphere at the time reflected a society focused on control, order, and predictability. The post-war era had seen great advancements in science and technology, and behaviorism’s emphasis on observable data fit well with the desire for empirical certainty. However, as the decade progressed, the cultural landscape began to shift. The 1960s were a time of questioning authority, breaking down traditional boundaries, and embracing new ways of thinking—both in society and in psychology.
As cognitive psychology began to emerge from behaviorism, the rigid, observable-only approach of behaviorism started to feel limiting. Cognitive psychologists argued that understanding behavior wasn’t enough—you had to understand what was going on in the mind. Thoughts, memories, perception, and decision-making became areas of intense interest, as researchers like George Miller and Noam Chomsky helped redefine the field.
Chomsky’s critique of behaviorism, particularly B.F. Skinner’s work on language, played a key role in this shift. He argued that behaviorism couldn’t adequately explain complex human behaviors like language acquisition. In Chomsky’s view, “…there is more to the mind than just stimulus-response patterns; we must consider internal cognitive structures.”
This was a time of intellectual revolution, not unlike the social revolutions happening concurrently. The 1960s counterculture embraced ideas of individuality and questioned societal norms, just as cognitive psychology questioned the once-prevailing behavioral models. The atmosphere was one of expanding horizons, not only in how people viewed their society but also in how they thought about the mind.
As cognitive psychology grew, it became clear that human beings are not just passive recipients of stimuli, but active processors of information. This shift gave rise to what became known as the “cognitive revolution,” a fundamental change in how psychologists studied human behavior and the mind.
Reflecting on this transition, one can appreciate how the 1960s paved the way for deeper, more nuanced understandings of human behavior and thought—much like how society itself was grappling with broader, more complex issues of identity, rights, and freedom.