Answer: The development of the computer in the 1950's and 1960's had an important influence on psychology and was part responsible for the cognitive approach becoming the dominant approach in modern psychology. The computer gave cognitive psychologists a metaphor, or analogy, to which they could compare human mental processing. The use of the computer as a tool for thinking how the human mind handles information is known as the computer analogy. The idea of information processing was adopted by cognitive psychologists as a model of how human thought works. This information can be used by other parts of the brain relating to mental activities such as memory, perception and attention. Hence the information processing approach characterizes thinking as the environment providing input of data, which is then transformed by our senses. The information can be stored, retrieved and transformed using “mental programs”, with the results being behavioral responses. Cognitive psychology has influenced and integrated with many other approaches and areas of study to produce.
