مینا افتخاری

Abstract Objective: Policy making can be affected by various cognitive factors, including beliefs, values and cognitive biases of the people involved in this process. These factors can shape the way policy makers understand issues, analyze information and make decisio   Therefore, it is very important to investigate the cognitive foundations of public policy making, and understanding how cognitive processes affect decisions helps to identify potential challenges, improve the quality of decision making, and make more informed and effective policy making. According to what has been said, the present research has been conducted to investigate the applied role of cognitive science in shaping and optimizing public policy making processes. By carefully examining the cognitive foundations of policymaking, this study seeks to reveal innovative approaches to creating policies that not only respond to contemporary challenges, but also harmonize with the complexities of human cognition. Method: It will be possible to collect all the proposed applications in the literature through a comprehensive and systematic review. In this method, in addition to answering research questions, gaps in a field can be identified and introduced to researchers; Therefore, in order to conduct a systematic review, items such as databases, keywords and search strategies were determined and researches related to the purpose of the current research were identified. Then, by examining and analyzing the content of selected studies with the comparative approach of qualitative content analysis, sub-themes were extracted from the mentioned sources and the answers to the research questions were found. Findings: First, cognitive science helps policymakers in identifying priority issues and then in defining them correctly. In the next step, this knowledge facilitates the choice between different options and the formulation of policies and causes effective policies to be designed in terms of the effectiveness of the results. During the implementation, the use of the principles of cognitive science leads to a detailed understanding of the instructions and efficiency in the implementation of the policies, and during the evaluation stage, it prevents the deviation of the policy from rationality in the examination of the consequences of the policy. Finally, this science will be effective in improving the analysis of policies by presenting different models. Conclusion: In general, it can be concluded that by considering the context and cognitive variables in the knowledge of public policy, it is possible to be effective in each of its stages and improve its results. Value: This research presents a systematic exploration of the existing literature on cognitive policy making.