The intersection of psychology and computers is a critical juncture for the development of user-centered designs and innovation in technology. It’s also a place where a lot of 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 relies on two basic methods of collecting data: lab research and surveys or interviews [1]. The first study a specific aspect in a small, controlled setting; the latter assess www.rebootdata.net/generated-post-2 more general behavior with self-report questionnaires or (potentially structured) interviews. Both suffer from inherent limitations.

Computers, however, can process and analyze massive amounts of data at a rapid speed – and in ways that traditional methods are not able to. This creates powerful new tools for psychologists, opening up a whole new realm 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 a group comprised of psychologists who have domain expertise and computer scientists with the expertise required to create large-scale systems, manage and analyze data.

There was not much collaboration in the past. For instance, Google directors have been more inclined to study computer science and computational science (29 percent were interested in it) as opposed to psychology (less than two percent). This is likely to have led to psychologists not being a majority in leadership at tech companies–with a result that technology products fail to take psychological factors into consideration.