The famous French philosopher Rene Descartes (1596–1650) made a statement that has become well known in the annals of intellectual history: “I think, therefore, I am” (Descartes, 2014). This statement guides one to the area of human thought, ways of organizing and classifying human thought, and the various forms of behavior that are then influenced by it. It is this study of human thought and consequent behavior that has come to be known in modern social sciences as “cognitive theory.” Social work and other helping professions use this theory for interventions with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations. A dictionary definition of the word “cognition” is “the process of knowing, or the capacity for it” (Merriam & Merriam, 1957, p. 160). The term “cognitive theory” has come to mean the art and science of understanding how humans perceive, think, and process various forms of information and then respond to them. It has emerged as a discipline in sociology, anthropology, sociobiology, psychology, biology, sociolinguistics, and social work. It engages in the study of how humans reason, make judgments,
make decisions, and engage in problem solving. It includes how the human mind forms concepts that help us respond to various forms of situations. The development of cognitive theory has been significantly influenced by the fields of computer and information technology, with their interest in information-processing and memory. Alternative forms of intelligence, logic, and memory were applied by theorists to the human mind and its processing of memory and cognition. In the social sciences, the rise in popularity of “logical positivism,” with its focus on phenomena that are empirically verifiable, also contributed significantly to the development of cognitive theory and interventions. In the social sciences, logical positivism encouraged movement away from a belief in internal drives and unconscious forces as causes for human behavior. It pointed toward more observable and measurable phenomena such as environmental events and internal identifiable cognitions. The “personal construct theory” of George Kelly (1958), with its focus on interpretation and reasoning, further influenced the development of cognitive theory and interventions (Walsh, 2008). Of special importance here is Kelly’s notion of “personal constructs” (1955), referring to how individuals learn, create, and use important ideas to understand social Realities.