At first, it might appear as if psychology and computing are two different fields. Psychologists analyze human behavior and health while computer scientists are involved in coding algorithms and designing software that can help people complete everyday tasks. But the truth is that these two fields have a lot in common. Some of the most exciting research in both fields is being done by combining psychology and computer science.
Computer science has made it easier to conduct psychological research. For instance, fMRI scans allow psychologists to identify which areas of the brain are activated during certain kinds of actions or thoughts. Online questionnaires also eliminate the biases inherent in pencil and paper surveys.
The collaboration between computer scientists and psychologists has changed the way we interact with technology. The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction was published in 1983 by three researchers from Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Stuart Card, Thomas Moran and Allen Newell, was one of the most important moments in the combination.
It shifted research into how computer users use them into the realm of computer science. This separated psychological techniques from their context www.rebootdata.net in humans and forced psychologists to catch up. Psychological branches that were already dealing with evaluations using numbers like psychometricians found the computer science method particularly amenable to their work.
Now, psychologists are working with computer scientists in the development of AI that can help better understand human behaviour. For instance psychologists are helping develop the ethical guidelines for the creation of algorithms to predict the likelihood of a person developing depression by analyzing their social media activity. Psychologists are using cognitive behavior therapy in virtual reality to treat anxiety disorders as well as other conditions.
