Cognitive Psychology is a part of psychology that looks at how our minds work. It focuses on things like how we see, remember, think, and make choices. This area of study started to grow in the 1950s. Before this, most psychologists were mostly concentrating on behaviorism, which looked only at what people did, not how they thought.

Some important people in Cognitive Psychology are George A. Miller and Ulric Neisser. They helped the field by showing how our mental processes are really important.

A Little History:

• 1920s-1950s: Psychology mostly looked at behavior; mental processes were mostly ignored.
• 1956: Miller wrote a paper called "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two." In it, he showed that there are limits to how much information our memory can hold at one time.
• 1967: Neisser came up with the term "Cognitive Psychology" in his book. This was a big step in making the study official.

Interesting Facts:

• About 70% of psychology programs now have courses in cognitive psychology.
• Using cognitive approaches can make learning better by up to 30% in different school settings.

Cognitive Psychology has changed a lot. It helps us understand how we think and act as humans by combining ideas from cognitive science, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.