The connection between psychology and computers is critical for innovation and user-centered technology design. It’s also where unintentional harms 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, research in psychology relies on two fundamental methods of collecting data that are lab research and surveys or interviews [1]. The former examines a specific aspect in a small controlled setting, while the latter focuses on broader behaviors using self-reporting surveys or (potentially) structured interviews. Both have inherent weaknesses.
Computers, however, are able to capture and analyze huge amounts of information at high speed, and in ways that traditional methods cannot. This makes them powerful new tools for psychologists and open 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 consisting of psychologists who have domain expertise and computer scientists with the knowledge needed to construct large-scale systems, manage and model data.
But until the last few years, there was no collaboration between these fields. Google directors, for example are more likely have studied computational and computer sciences (29 percent) than psychology (less than two percent). This has resulted in the absence of psychology within the management of tech companies, and has had the result that many technology products do not take into account psychological principles.
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