The Intersection of Psychology and Computers

The interplay between psychology and computers is essential for advancing and design of technology that is centered around the user. It’s also where a lot of unintentional injuries to people happen. That’s why we need psychologists to play a bigger role in tech development–particularly given that many technology companies change human behavior at scale and profit from behavioral changes, and generally embrace scientific innovation.

In the past data collection in psychological research was based on two fundamental methods: lab tests and surveys [1]. The former is a way to study a particular aspect in a small controlled setting, whereas the latter examines more general behavior by using self-reporting questionnaires or (potentially) structured interviews. Both suffer from inherent limitations.

Computers, however, are able to store and analyze massive amounts of information at high speed in ways that conventional methods are unable to. This creates powerful new tools for psychologists which opens up a new area of research. For example, a new field called Psycho(neuro)informatics is emerging that merges psychology and computer science to develop models of human brains and intelligence. This requires a team of experts: psychologists with domain expertise, and computer scientists who have the ability to create large-scale tracking systems and to manage and analyze the resulting data.

However, until recent, there was hardly any cooperation between the two fields. Google directors, for instance, are more likely to have a degree in computer and computational sciences (29 percent) than psychology (less than 2percent). This is likely to have led to psychologists not being represented in leadership in tech companies, resulting in that technology products are often unable to take psychological www.rebootdata.net/virtual-data-room-information-that-fulfill-your-business-needs aspects into consideration.