The major psychological thought highly impacts working professionals’ actions through ways of perceiving behavior patterns and decision-making models (Corballis, 2023). For instance cognitive operations like perception, memory, and problem-solving in performing tasks which is well embraced through cognitive psychology in respective fields. A therapist would use cognitive theories to understand and shape how an adolescent thinks, to enhance more proficient approaches to dealing with stress, and to make sound judgments. Likewise, cognitive concepts guide the formation of proper strategies due to the design of educators in terms of the developmental learning needs of learners(Huey, 2023) The theories help officials in altering behaviors by having better results in their minds. Alongside these psychological perspectives of empathy, and better interpersonal and ethics-based decisions, there is a dire need for application-oriented research.

Events Affecting the Development of School Thought

The Cognitive Revolution (1950s-1960s)

The emergence of another wave of theoretical perspectives occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, known today as the Cognitive Revolution, which shifted from the behavioral approach that concentrated solely on observable behavior to an internal psychological process of thought activities (Corballis, 2023). Other scholars like Noam Chomsky began demising the behavioristic model by embracing the mind-based model in processing information. This revolution laid the genesis of cognitive psychology by determining how individuals process information: encode it, store it, and then recall it. Computer science has helped psychologists to apply the processing model through the help of a computer in our heads. This underpinned a change in professional practice in education in therapy so that getting to grips with how the mind worked was essential to enhance the learning and therapy experiences.

Information Processing Theory (1960s-1970s)

Information Processing Theory developed in the 1960s and 1970s supposed that human cognition processes information in stages like computers do. The theory was expressing to what extent the attention people paid to a message was captured and stored and from where it was retrieved. For educationalists, therapists, and marketers it was useful in terms of predicting how interventions and strategies would map onto naturally occurring processes of information processing and emotion regulation. For example, teachers began to employ approaches like chunking and rehearsal to adopt for memory enhancement while therapists began to use CBT to help clients learn how to modify negative patterns of thinking. This sort of shift away from behavior and towards cognition altered professional practices in all fields.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (1960s-present)

Cognitive-behavioral therapy was founded in the 1960s and was a combination of cognitive psychology, and behaviorism. CBT on the other hand is applied where the patient is assisted to recognize them and then they change them. CBT has proven to be effective in overhauling professional behavior in therapy as a profession. They include anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders, and it is also good for pain control. Cognitive restructuring and behavioral intervention for the approach are well-structured and informed by empirical practice to assist the client in dealing with the problem. The emergence of CBT mirrored the growing understanding of the relationship between cognition, emotion, and action, had a far-ranging impact on professional practice in clinical domains, and produced the broad diffusion of psychotherapeutic methodologies steeped in cognitive psychology.

Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology (1990s-present)

Neuroscience with cognitive psychology in the 1990s also assists in the understanding of brain support for cognitive functions. Modern techniques such as fMRI laid the groundwork to see the functioning of the brain while the person performed cognitive tasks and understand memory, decision-making, and especially the regulation of emotion in better detail (Brown, 2023). This has removed the effectiveness of Interventions of neuroscience; cognitive psychology interaction, and making therapy and education professional practices. Now, those who work in healthcare have a much deeper understanding of how different activity in the brain affects cognitive processes, so mental health care is targeted and there are better strategies in teaching. It also led to the creation of therapies based on mindfulness and teaching brain mechanisms at the School of Education.

Impact of Other Schools of Thought

Behaviorism

In its focus on the work that can be observed and the environment in which the responses are shaped, behaviorism has had a much greater impact on early work in cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychology focuses on mental processes and activities, but it at one time originated from behaviorist theory concerning reinforcement and conditioning in learning (Cristofaro et al., 2024). Other behaviorists such as B.F. Skinner and John Watson insisted on the ways through which behaviors could be shaped using rewards and punishments. By applying this to their models, cognitive psychologists both the inner processes and outer behavior of a given subject. Furthermore, an empirical tradition in behaviorism established the groundwork for generating CBT and applying techniques for changing cognition paralleled to the process of behavior alteration. Therefore, behaviorism played a very important role in influencing cognitive psychology concerning behavior therapy techniques and the appropriate methodology in therapy.

Gestalt Psychology

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the movement named Gestalt psychology concentrated on a perception of stimuli as wholes and not as particulars. Subsequently, this approach impacted cognitive psychology, highlighting the organizational whole and stressing the activity of perception (Brown, 2023). Of particular interest in Gestalt psychology is perception and problem-solving of the mental representation, and this fan a boost in cognitive theories. In terms of occupational practice, Gestalt psychology has influenced education and therapy since the understanding of how people structure information constantly enhances the approaches to teaching and the practice of therapy.

Humanistic Psychology

Person-centered theoretician Abraham Maslow as well as other theoreticians who focus on humanism propagated the idea of people’s potential, growth, as well as self-actualization (Brown, 2023). The approach presented a new, positive, and individual perspective on psychology, compared to behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Cognitive psychology incorporates or acknowledges humanistic concepts insofar as meaning, motivation, and self-perception impact cognition. This approach has influenced the behavior of professionals; particularly within a therapeutic setting where creating positive self-evaluation and enabling the client are important objectives. The motivational interview system and person-centered therapeutic model have to a greater extent been founded on this humanistic concept and serve as a basis on which amateur professionals will continue to relate with the clients regarding their development of consciousness.

Evolutionary Psychology

As the main point of reference in the field of cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology has focused on the premise that many cognitive processes and behaviors have evolved to solve such adaptive problems as finding food or avoiding predators, there is a contribution to the understanding of the evolutionary origins of human cognition (Cristofaro et al., 2024). Evolutionary ideas have been used to try and understand perception, memory, and decision-making as adaptations aimed at promoting survival and reproduction. For example, knowing that humans have cognitive biases with which they are innately endowed is a good start for teachers and therapists to find a way to within these tendencies. Evolutionary psychology has also had great interest in the way social and environmental contexts influence cognition, which in turn informs the ways that professionals approach human behavior in various environments.

Impact of Other Cultures

Western Culture

The Anglo-Saxon roots of cognitive psychology are apparent in the distinctly Western notions of the self-contained individual, the autonomous self, and the decision-making rational self. Another feature of Western society is the over-prestige of such values as logic, scientific approach, and personal accomplishment, which affected the shift of the place of theory (Badcock et al., 2019). Their concentration is on operationalism and empirical point of view. Cognitive psychology has been highly individualistic and internal over the recent years because of the values of the American and European cultures. This has, in turn, fostered approaches to treatment and learning which encourage ontology of the self, self-empowerment, and positive thinking.

Eastern Culture

One has to say that such values as individualism, self-organization, and rationality characteristic for Western culture, have defined cognitive psychology very much (Berthet. 2022). It is noteworthy, within Western society, that logic or reason, scientific method, and self-achievement dominated the structural constituents that caused the theories to focus on objective empirical methods. Cognitive psychology has thus been strongly individualistic and intrapsychic in terms of these American and European values. Culturally, that has created therapies and educational processes that are pro-personal responsibility, pro-self efficacy, and pro-cognitive restructuring.

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism, with its focus on diversity and cultural sensitivity, has indeed played a significant role in cognitive psychology because it introduced the need for culturally relevant psychological theories and practices (Badcock et al., 2019). The fact that the cognitive processes may differ from one culture to another led to the development of more inclusive models that respect a variety of thinking patterns, learning, and perceiving this world. Multiculturalism in professional behavior has led to more culturally competent therapies, educational approaches, and interventions respecting and including cultural differences. This has been the ground on which to mold ethics in intervention and practice among diverse cultures and knowing the cultural nuances helps a lot in providing adequate care and support.

Knowledge of Cognitive Psychology and Professional Behavior

Understanding Cognitive Processes

Knowledge of cognitive processes such as attention, memory, perception, and decision-making informs professional behavior in many domains directly (Berthet, 2022). Considering its use in education and therapy, such knowledge enables a professional to create efficient approaches to learning and modification of behavior. Cognitive psychology has thus been highly individualistic and internal in the portrayal of these American and European values. That cultural context is largely responsible for the creation of therapies and educational methodologies that are politically pro-personal responsibility, pro-self efficacy, and pro-cognitive restructuring.

Cognitive Behavioral Interventions

CBI gives rise to the notion that the human mind connects thoughts, moods, and behavioral outputs (Badcock et al., 2019). Originally, the strategy for such cognitive behavioral interventions comes from cognitive psychology as in CBI the person makes his wrong thoughts being taught to him hence the right feelings are evoked together with the right behavioral response and these cognitive behavior interventions have been widely used in the community of work in therapeutic practices involving depression and anxiety disorders (Ma-Kellams, 2022). These specialists help clients change unhelpful ways of perceiving and managing situations and emotions by way of cognitive alteration and behavioral change. In the light of cognitive concepts, such interventions bring about sustained behavioral change and facilitate receptiveness to mental health interventions.

Integrating Cultural Factors

It is worthy of note that cultural factors become incorporated into cognitive psychology to envisage proper and professional respect-driven care delivery (Krishnamurthy et al., 2021). Hence, by understanding how these cognitive factors are influenced by beliefs, values, and culture, the professionals could opt for the best interventions and education Programs relevant to the cultures. This would mean, for instance, that a therapist should modify the CBT based on cultural beliefs about the causes of mental disorder, or modify the teaching based on culturally preferred theory on learning. It respects cultural impact on cognition and therefore increases treatment efficiency and equality in diverse environments.

Applying Cognitive Psychology in Health Education

The use of cognitive psychology in health education is to use the understanding of cognitive processes for developing educational programs which may help with the process of learning and the modification of behavior (Bordens et al., 2018). Out of the findings, health education professionals will be in a position to make positive changes to the manner people understand and store health information using cognitive principles. Cognitive psychology predicts how people come to understand information and how they make decisions to create educational materials and interventions to make people make informed health decisions to practice good health.

PSYC FPX 4100 assessment 3 Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that cognitive psychology, therefore, has a very significant role to play in professional behavior by these entities since it provides an understanding of how the people in question take in and process any information they are given and their subsequent response to the same (Bordens et al., 2018). This can be seen in the formulation of evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy, the incorporation of cultural factors into therapeutic and educational activities, and using the principles of thought processing in health promotion. Knowledge of cognitive processes will in one way enhance the effectiveness of the interventions apart from personalizing them since people have various needs. As a result, knowledge of cognitive psychology is integrated into evidence-based practice for enhancing clinical and educative practice both for applicability and effectiveness and for cultural sensitivity.

PSYC FPX 4100 assessment 3 References

American Psychological Association. (2017). What is cognitive behavioral therapy? American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/cognitive-behavioral

Badcock, P. B., Friston, K. J., Ramstead, M. J. D., Ploeger, A., & Hohwy, J. (2019). The hierarchically mechanistic mind: An evolutionary systems theory of the human brain, cognition, and behavior. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 19(6), 1319–1351. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-019-00721-3

Bordens, K. S., & Horowitz, I. A. (2018). Social psychology. Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410604934

Berthet, V. (2022). The impact of cognitive biases on professionals’ decision-making: A review of four occupational areas. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(802439). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.802439

Corballis, M. C. (2020). Crossing the rubicon: behaviorism, language, and evolutionary continuity. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00653

Huey, S. J., Park, A. L., Galán, C., & Wang, C. X. (2023). Culturally responsive cognitive behavioral therapy for ethnically diverse populations. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 19(1), 51–78. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-080921-072750

Ma-Kellams, C. (2020). Cultural variation and similarities in cognitive thinking styles versus judgment biases: a review of environmental factors and evolutionary forces. Review of General Psychology, 24(3), 108926801990127. https://doi.org/10.1177/108926801990127

Wypych, V. (2022). We are more than just spectators: Feminist psychology theory applied to sports psychology. Honors Projects in Applied Psychology. https://digitalcommons.bryant.edu/honors_appliedpsychology/28/

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How Major Psychological Thought Informs Professional Behavior