Books on Cogitive Psychology?

Does anyone know of any good resources on cognitive psychology? Maybe some that are aimed towards designers?

I haven’t searched for any books in particular. I would recommend looking through psychology journal databases. You may find some studies/research done on the topic.

I did a research project on User Centered Design and that’s how I found information.

If you’re still in the Twin Cities, have you talked to anyone in the psych department at the U of M?

No, I haven’t, but I will be a grad student at the U of M starting next fall, so I’ll make sure to. Thanks!

I’d definitely recommend talking with a few folks. I’m pretty fascinated with cog psy in general, but find the texts too dense to get through. What I find works for me is going to dinner or drinks with some of my wife’s therapist friends so I can get things explained to me in layman’s terms! :wink:

“Donald Arthur Norman (born December 25, 1935), a founder of The Cognitive Science Society [1], is an expert of cognitive science and is widely considered to be the first to apply advanced human factors to design via cognitive design.”

Read his “Design of Everyday Things” and “Emotional Design.”

Definitely read the Don Norman books! Kind of a must.

I believe The Design of Everyday Things was originally named The Psychology of Everyday Things

There’s a really good cognitive psychology reading list in the book
“Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design” by Audrey Bennett.

It also has reading lists for culturual studies and alot of other interesting and relevant information
for designers.

I read the some of the design of everyday things as a student, and even geeked out because I sat next to don norman at a conference once, being to psyched out to speak to him (there’s some design celebrity for you), but didn’t realize he was the founder of the CSS and expert in cog science. Due mostly to my own non-attention to that detail.

I’d better read it again! Thanks everyone.

Everyday Things and Emotional Design are good, I’ve got DOET on kindle.

I’d have to reccomend not buying Design of Future Things. Skim a few chapters and you’ve got the whole book. :confused:
It’s a shame because there are a number of good examples in it, but 70% of it is the same 4-5 concepts paraphrased, but without adding anything each time.

Check out the kindle sample for “The Inmates are Running the Asylum”

it’s a bit like DoET for UX

In my road of psychological research and applying to design. I’ve been lucky and had a class that brought specific aspects of psychology that have been applied to design in general. (Maybe find some of these class curriculum online?) For my research papers though I would suggest trying to find journal databases. Easily search for research done specifically in regards to any kind of design.