Use of the terms cognition and behavior and their variants can be traced back to the middle-ages. What is not widely known is how the terms were first used in the literature. This article identifies variations of terms for cognition and behavior and traces the first use of the terms using the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). A systematic search of the OED was conducted, identifying terms in the cognition and behavior families. Terms are defined and the year the term first appeared in the literature is identified. Terms are sorted and grouped chronologically by first appearance to determine their first use in the literature as noted in the OED. Results indicated more words are related to cognition than behavior. The first term related to cognition to appear was cogitation in circa 1225; while the first term related to behavior was port, which appeared circa 1330. Each family of terms experienced tremendous growth during the first appearance of terms. The cognition family saw 60% of its terms appear in the 17th and 19th centuries. The behavior family saw nearly 75% of its terms make their first appearance during the 15th through the 17th centuries.
References
[1]
Jensen, R. Behaviorism. In Magill’s Encyclopedia of Social Science: Psychology; Piotrowski, N.A., Ed.; Salem Press: Pasadena, CA, USA, 2003; Volume 1, pp. 239–243.
[2]
Alcorn, M.B.; Washburn, A.M. Cognitive Psychology. In Magill’s Encyclopedia of Social Science: Psychology; Piotrowski, N.A., Ed.; Salem Press: Pasadena, CA, USA, 2003; Volume 1, pp. 366–372.
[3]
Green, C.D. Where did the word ‘cognitive’ come from anyway? Can. Psychol.？1996, 37, 31–39.
[4]
Oxford English Dictionary Online. About. Available online: http://public.oed.com/about/ (accessed on 4 November 2012).
[5]
Partridge, E. Cognition. In Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English; Routledge & Kegan Paul: London, UK, 1958; p. 109.
[6]
de Vaan, M.A.C. Agō, -ere. In Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages; Brill: Boston, MA, USA, 2008; p. 30.
[7]
de Vaan, M.A.C. Portō, -āre. In Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages; Brill: Boston, MA, USA, 2008; p. 482.
[8]
Gay, P.; Webb, R.K. The Printing press and the spread of humanist ideas. In The Renaissance; Thompson, S.P., Ed.; Greenhaven Press, Inc.: San Diego, CA, USA, 2000; pp. 167–168.
[9]
Reill, P.H. Introduction. In Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, rev. ed.; Reill, P.H, Wilson, E.J., Eds.; Facts on File, Inc.: New York, NY, USA, 2004; pp. ix–xi.
[10]
Benjafield, J.G. Psychology: A Concise History; Oxford University Press Canada: Don Mills, Canada, 2012; pp. 24–31.
