The Intersection of Psychology and Computers

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The interaction between computers and psychology is a crucial point for the development of user-centered designs and innovation in technology. It’s also a place where many unintentional injuries to people occur. 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.

Traditionally, psychological research rely on two main methods of data collection: lab experiments and surveys, or interviews [1]. The former is a way to study a particular aspect in a small controlled environment, while the latter evaluates general behaviors using self-reporting surveys or (potentially) structured interviews. Both suffer from inherent limitations.

Computers are able to record and analyze vast quantities of data at a rapid speed, and in ways that traditional methods aren’t able to. This is why they are powerful tools for psychologists and opens up a completely new field of investigation. 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 experts from a team of psychologists with domain expertise, and computer scientists who have the knowledge to design large-scale tracking systems, and to manage and model the resulting data.

There was no collaboration in the past. For instance, Google directors have been more inclined to study computer science and computational science (29 percent of them were interested in it) in comparison to psychology (less than 2percent). This has led to the absence of psychology within the top management of tech companies, with the result that many tech products do not incorporate psychological principles.