History's Influence - Assignment Example

Cognitive Psychology al Affiliation Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology refers to the branch of psychology that explores internal mental processes in animals and human beings (Goldstein, 2008). It deals with how human beings perceive information, remember, speak, solve problems, and think. Cognitive psychology, like other branches of psychology, originated from the historical psychology. However, the perspectives of modern cognitive psychology differ from historical psychological approaches.

Modern cognitive psychology rejects introspection as an investigation method, which was common with historical psychology, but it accepts the application of scientific method of study (Goldstein, 2008). Cognitive psychology also admits that internal mental states like desire, belief, idea, motivation, and knowledge exist. Because cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology, it has a close relationship with other disciplines, including linguistics, neuroscience, and philosophy. Evidently, the mind is a part of the history of cognitive psychology that is extremely significant in the practice of modern psychology (Goldstein, 2008).

Modern psychology, especially cognitive psychology, has focused on the investigation of the human mind, which in the present day refers to mental processes. Therefore, the study of psychology in the contemporary society focuses on how human beings and animals behave depending on the mental processes they possess. In addition, cognitive psychology focuses on how individuals acquire, process, and stores the acquired information for future use (Goldstein, 2008). Cognitive psychologists study behaviors of animals and other human beings by using the laboratory experiment.

The approach of cognitive psychology is scientific, for instance individuals participating in memory tests with controlled controls. Cognitive research contains a number of practical applications, which include improving memory, structuring education curriculum, and increasing the accuracy of decision-making. This branch of psychology touches on various disciplines, and many people across the world study it in a variety of fields (Goldstein, 2008). Some of the areas that find cognitive psychology extremely significant include behavioral neuroscience, industrial-organizational psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence, just to mention a few (Goldstein, 2008).

In addition, curriculum designers, teachers, and educators find cognitive psychology to be a significant field of psychology because it enables them to know into detail about how human beings learn, process, and remember the learnt information over time. Scientists, engineers, artists, designers, and architects can also benefit from cognitive psychology by understanding the internal processes and mental states (Goldstein, 2008). Therefore, the study of internal mental process enables individuals in all areas to understand one other as well as have a thorough understanding of their occupations.

In conclusion, the study of cognitive psychology finds the historical psychology to be significant because of its focus on mind. The modern psychology focuses on the mental processes, which is the same as mind, but differs slightly because the study of mental processes can allow for scientific research (Solso, Maclin, & Maclin, 2008). It is evident that cognitive psychology accepts the application of scientific method of study. This branch of psychology is helpful to individuals in various areas of study or occupations because it enables them understand the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of information.

Some of the people, who find cognitive psychology helpful, include curriculum designers, teachers, educators, medical doctors, computer engineers, artists, designers, and architects (Goldstein, 2008). ReferencesGoldstein, E. B. (2008). Cognitive psychology: connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (2nd ed.). Australia: Thomson Wadsworth.Solso, R.L., Maclin, O.H., & Maclin, M.K. (2008). Cognitive psychology (8th ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.