One of the first criticisms of behaviorist learning approach came from gestalt psychologists during the first decades of the 20th century and was related to behaviorist dependencies exclusively on overt behavior. It was the gestalt views on learning that influenced new approaches extending beyond behaviorism and setting the basic principles of what is today known as cognitive learning theories. In the 1960s behaviorism was as a dominant learning paradigm slowly replaced by cognitivism.
Cognitive approach to learning, unlike behavioral,
If human cognitive architecture is to be analyzed, then the role and properties of human memory system should also be accounted for. Memory is often defined as “an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences”1). Since it has a crucial role in acquisition and retention of knowledge, it was the subject of many researches and an essential part of many cognitivist learning theories.
Since the beginning of its intensive development during the 1960s various critics of cognitivism have emerged, challenging its assumption that mental functions can be compared to an information processing model. Some authors like John Searle or Roger Penrose claim that computation, due to its inherent limitations, can never achieve the complexity and possibilities of human mental functions and therefore cannot be successfully used to describe them. Common examples for this are:
During the 1970s humanism evolved as an opposing view to both behaviorism and cognitivism beginning with the holistic approach, belief in the power of an individual and view learning as a way of fulfilling his potentials.
Cognitivism at Learning Theories. Retrieved February 21, 2011.