Psychology and Computers

When you first think of it, psychology and computers may appear to be two completely distinct areas. Psychologists study human behavior and health and computer scientists are involved in coding algorithms and creating software that aids www.rebootdata.net/data-processing people do their daily tasks. In the real world, these two disciplines overlap on a variety of levels. Some of the most exciting research in both fields is being conducted by combining psychology with computer science.

In the field of psychological research technological advancements in computer science have helped make it easier to conduct psychological studies. For instance FMRI scanners permit psychologists to see what areas of the brain are activated during particular thoughts or actions. Online questionnaires also eliminate the biases inherent in paper and pencil surveys.

However, it’s the collaboration between computer scientists and psychologists that has really transformed the way we interact with technology. One of the most significant events in this fusion came in 1983 with the publication of The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction by three researchers from Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center–Stuart Card, Thomas Moran, and Allen Newell.

It also pushed research on how computers are used by humans into the realm of computer science, dissociating psychological techniques from their human context and causing psychologists to catch up. Psychometricians and other fields of psychology that focus on numerical evaluations found the computer science approach to be especially useful.

Psychologists and computer scientists are working together to develop AI which can better understand human behavior. For instance, psychologists are helping shape the ethical guidelines for the creation of algorithms to predict a person’s depression risk by analyzing their social media activities. Psychologists are also incorporating cognitive behavioral therapy into virtual reality, which could be used to treat anxiety and other disorders.