The intention of this essay is to explore the area surrounding how cognitive psychology has affected or disaffected policing practices and the positive or negative outcomes of it. To do this, a deeper understanding of the terms cognitive and psychology, along with their interactive relationship had to be expounded.

The scope of cognitive psychology is vast in relation to the public and police, particularly due to the fact that it is an individual process with many external mitigating factors. Therefore I have attempted to narrow the field and concentrate on a couple of specific examples of the use of cognitive psychology, while attempting to explain the theories behind the processes.

What is psychology? In basic terms it is simply the study of the mind, but that very general description has a much wider application as the psychology of today differs from that of two centuries ago. Psychology as...