When you first begin thinking about it, computers and psychology could appear as two totally distinct areas. Psychologists examine human behavior and mental health and computer scientists work on coding algorithms and designing software that can help people perform everyday tasks. However, the reality is that these two fields have a lot in common. In fact some of the most exciting research being done in both fields involves mixing computer science and psychology.
In the field of psychological research, technological advances in computer science have made it easier to conduct psychological experiments. For instance FMRI scanners permit psychologists to see what areas of the brain are activated when a particular thought or action is performed. Online questionnaires can eliminate the biases inherent in paper-and-pencil surveys.
But it’s the collaboration between computer scientists and psychologists that has really transformed the way we interact with technology. The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction which was published in 1983 by three scientists from Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Stuart Card, Thomas Moran and Allen Newell, was one of the most important moments in the combination.
It pushed studies of the way that humans use computers into the realm of computer science. It separated psychological methods from their human context and forcing psychologists to catch up. Psychometricians and other fields of psychology that deal with numerical evaluations found the computer science approach to be especially useful.
Psychologists are now working with computer scientists to develop AI that can better understand human behavior. Psychologists are helping to develop ethical guidelines for algorithms able www.rebootdata.net/destructive-online-activity-and-computer-games to determine the risk of depression from a person’s social media activity. Psychologists are also using cognitive behavioral therapy to create virtual reality, which can be used to treat anxiety and other disorders.