DIGITAL SCHOOL OF VIRTUAL AND OPEN LEARNING
IN COLLABORATION WITH
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
UNIT CODE & NAME:APS 402 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
WRITTEN BY: Vetted by
DR MERECIA SIRERA
Copyright © Kenyatta University, 2016
All Rights Reserved
Published By:
KENYATTA UNIVERSITY PRESS
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,INTRODUCTION
Cognition is a key aspect in lives of human beings. It is the aspect of human life that controls all
the mental process as well as the activities in our daily lives. To be able to use our limbs, to
communicate with people or to learn and perform a specific task we apply our cognitive resources.
In essence cognition is omnipresent in all aspects in our lives. On the other hand psychology is a
study of the mind and behavior. Through psychology, we learn about our emotions, our thought
process and our behavior. Cognitive psychology helps us to understand our emotions, our thoughts
and our behavior in response to our emotions and thoughts. We are also able to understand other
people that we interact with based on psychology of our cognition. In this unit you will learn how
cognitive process affects our thoughts, emotions and behavior. This will help you understand
yourself better and those you interact with.
Course description:
Definition of cognitive psychology; History and development of cognitive psychology; Piaget’s
Theory of Cognitive development; Approaches to the study of cognitive process with the focus on
sensation, perception, intelligence, creativity; language learning; memory; concept formation and
problem solving; Thinking Learning, reading and writing , information processing;
Transformation of ideas into actions. Brain damage
MODULE OBJECTIVES
By the end of the of the module the learners should be able to
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the cognitive process
2. Explain the process through which information is retained and retrieved from the memory
3. Apply the knowledge acquired in the problem solving process
4. Demonstrate how different cognitive processes facilitate our daily existence
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, 5. Appreciate the functions and complexity of human cognition.
EVALUATION DETAILS
1. In this course there are two kind of evaluations; the continuous assessment (CATs)
2. and end of semester examination
3. Continuous assessment tests (CATs) will be marked out of 30%. You will be expected to
undertake at least two CATs.
4. Examination will be marked out of 70% and this will come at the end of the semester .
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, TABLE OF CONTENT
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