The Need for a “Psychoanalytic Psychology” in the Cognitive Science Field

Cognitive science has incorporated seminal concepts of psychoanalysis without acknowledging this influence. This article covers psychoanalytic ideas already incorporatedimplicitly or explicitly-in modern cognitive psychology, as well as ideas whose inclusion would benefit the cognitive field. These include the emphasis on mental models, mind-body interaction, unconscious processes, dual processes of thought, and naturalistic research milieus. The article discusses reasons why the psychoanalytic roots of these ideas have not been acknowledged and shows how the theories of multiple coding and the referential process provide a basis for bridging the psychoanalytic and cognitive science fields. Finally, it is argued that scientific psychology requires a subfield of psychoanalytic psychology that covers the integration of information-processing functions, including somatic and emotional processes, in the context of an individual’s overall goals.