Why is cognitive psychology important to study

By becoming better aware of the above 5 crucial processes, people can make informed choices with respect to their social behavioural patterns and learn to control their aggression level in their behaviour by taking out time and thinking of each step as it comes. Education: The study of cognitive psychology has an influence on the field of education in many different ways. Moreover, trainers and educators try to use Cognitive approach for imparting training to the learners by assessing the preferred learning styles which can be visual, auditory or kinaesthetic.

Advertisement and Cognitive Psychology: The market specialists make use of Cognitive Psychology concepts for designing their marketing programs which can impress the audience and influence their purchase behaviour. Explains how Human Brains Process Information: Human brains do tend to process information just like computer processors by sorting, filtering and reproducing the desired outputs or eliciting the desired responses accordingly Willingham, Cognitive approach has the advantage of being practically applicable in various fields and is appreciated for relying heavily on scientific techniques or experiments as the main method of research and investigation.

The disadvantage of cognitive approach is that it relies heavily on the cognitive or internal mental processes, which cannot be observed directly. Since the findings are based on the investigation or study of the invisible processes, hence the theory has been criticized for being subjective and lacking the scientific approach, as a result of which the validity of the research findings are questionable.

The theory has also been criticized for not taking into consideration the other factors which influence the behaviour as per Palmer and Hollin. The theory has been labelled as reductionist as the focus is just on 5 cognitive processes like attention, thought, perception, memory and language, while the other factors have been disregarded.

Cognitive Psychology. General Psychology. Human Development. Psychological History. Psychology Capstone. Social Psychology. What is Cognitive Psychology? It is important to understand how we think as well as how we learn as we go through life because it allows us to develop techniques so we can better adapt to the world around us.

This is especially important as the world around us becomes far more globalized with more diversity within it. This diversity can cause issues and problems with how we perceive things or even how we reason with someone else.

By understanding the psychology of how we think and learn, we are better able to accept this diversity and recognize differences in perception. Cognitive psychology involves the study of internal mental processes—all of the things that go on inside your brain, including perception, thinking, memory, attention, language, problem-solving, and learning. While it is a relatively young branch of psychology , it has quickly grown to become one of the most popular subfields. There are numerous practical applications for this cognitive research, such as providing help coping with memory disorders, increasing decision-making accuracy, finding ways to help people recover from brain injury, treating learning disorders, and structuring educational curricula to enhance learning.

Learning more about how people think and process information not only helps researchers gain a deeper understanding of how the human brain works, but it allows psychologists to develop new ways of helping people deal with psychological difficulties.

For example, by recognizing that attention is both a selective and limited resource, psychologists are able to come up with solutions that make it easier for people with attentional difficulties to improve their focus and concentration. Findings from cognitive psychology have also improved our understanding of how people form, store, and recall memories.

By knowing more about how these processes work, psychologists can develop new ways of helping people improve their memories and combat potential memory problems.

For example, psychologists have found that while your short-term memory is quite short and limited lasting just 20 to 30 seconds and capable of holding between five and nine items , rehearsal strategies can improve the chances that information will be transferred to long-term memory , which is much more stable and durable.

While many cognitive psychologists specialize in research and are employed by universities or government agencies, others take a clinical focus and work directly with individuals who are experiencing challenges related to different mental processes.

They may work in hospitals, mental health clinics, or private practices. Psychologists who work in this area often focus on a particular area of interest such as memory , while others might instead choose to work directly on specific health concerns related to cognition, such as degenerative brain disorders or brain injuries.

The work of cognitive psychologists is essential for helping people who have experienced issues with mental processes. While we tend to take abilities such as attention and problem solving for granted, perhaps because they are so woven into the fabric of our everyday existence, cognitive disruptions can create havoc in multiple areas of an individual's life.

Attention problems can make it difficult to focus at work or at school. Even relatively minor memory problems can make it a struggle to handle the demands of everyday life.

Consider, for example, how negative thinking can interfere with your health and happiness. We all experience these negative thoughts from time to time, but some people may find themselves overwhelmed with pessimistic thinking patterns that make it difficult to function in daily life.

These ruminations can lead to increased stress levels, pessimism, and self-sabotaging, and can even contribute to feelings of learned helplessness. With the help of cognitive psychologists, people are often able to find ways to cope and even overcome such difficulties.

Therapy treatments rooted in cognitive research focus on helping people change these negative thinking patterns and replace such thoughts with more positive and realistic ones. In addition to adding to our understanding of how the human mind works, the field of cognitive psychology has also had an impact on approaches to mental health. Before the s, many mental health approaches were focused more on psychoanalytic , behavioral , and humanistic approaches.

The so-called "cognitive revolution" that took place during this period put a greater emphasis on understanding the way people process information and how thinking patterns might contribute to psychological distress. Thanks to research in this area by cognitive psychologists, new approaches to treatment were developed to help treat depression, anxiety, phobias, and other psychological disorders.

Cognitive behavior therapy and rational emotive behavior therapy are two methods in which clients and therapists focus on the underlying cognitions that contribute to psychological distress. Therapists can help clients identify irrational beliefs and other cognitive distortions that are in conflict with reality and then aid them in replacing such thoughts with more realistic, healthy beliefs.

If you are experiencing symptoms of a psychological disorder that would benefit from the use of cognitive approaches, you might see a psychologist who has specific training in these cognitive treatment methods.

These professionals frequently go by titles other than cognitive psychologists, such as psychiatrist, clinical psychologist , or counseling psychologist , but many of the strategies they utilize are rooted in the cognitive tradition. If you're unsure of a practitioner's discipline or approach, just ask him or her.

As you can see, the field of cognitive psychology is both broad and diverse, yet it touches on so many aspects of daily life.