Which of the following research questions would be of most interest to cognitive psychologists?

• A. What are the physiological changes associated with stress?
• B. How do genetic factors influence personality development?
• C. What are the effects of group conformity on individual behavior?
• D. How do individuals encode, store, and retrieve information from memory?

Answer: (D)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the focus of cognitive psychology, which is the study of mental processes such as perception, memory, attention, language, problem-solving, and thinking.
2. Step 2: Review each research question and identify which one relates directly to mental processes. For example, physiological changes relate more to biological psychology, genetic factors to behavioral genetics, and group conformity to social psychology.
3. Step 3: Recognize that the question about encoding, storing, and retrieving information from memory directly addresses core cognitive processes, making it most relevant to cognitive psychology.
4. Step 4: Confirm that the question about memory involves studying how information is processed internally, which is central to cognitive psychology's interest in understanding mental functions.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the research question focusing on memory processes aligns best with cognitive psychology compared to the other options.