Det kognitive paradigme i biblioteks- og informationsvidenskaben. (In Danish; Translated title: The cognitive paradigm in Library and Information Science)

Abstract

English summary: The article falls into two main parts. In the first part cognitive psychology is discussed with emphasis on its theoretical aspects. In the second part the application of the cognitive point of view to LIS is subjected to a critical analysis. Cognitive psychology - or information process psychology - is considered to represent a step forward in the development of psychological theories(especially compared to behaviourism) because it deals with human mental (cognitive) processes, for instance during reading and information retrieval. On the other hand, the cognitive theory is critized for isolating and formalizing the mental processesa and for generalizing scientific results with limited validity. Or to put it in another way: cognitive psychology is able to produce valuable practical results in certain fields, but the theory is not considered to be satisfactory as far as the understandinga and explation of human (conceptual) thinking is concerned. To a great extent cognitive psychology ignores the historically and sociologically determined dimensions of cognition. The second part of the article is partly a critique of the way in which cognitive theory is applied to LIS, partly a discussion of the practical results of using the cognitive point of view in international and Danish LIS. Concerning the application of cognitive theory to LIS the author finds that the theoreticacl onsiderations have been too weak. As for the practical results the conclusion is, that cognitive theory (or a cognitive point of view) has not been a condition of the claimed results.