The intersection of psychology and computers is crucial to innovation and design of technology that is centered around the user. It’s also a place where a lot of unintentional injuries to people happen. 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 basic methods of collecting data which are laboratory tests and surveys or interviews [1]. The first focuses on a particular aspect in a controlled setting, while the latter examines more general behaviour using self-reporting questions or (potentially) structured interviews. Both have inherent weaknesses.
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 is why they are powerful tools for psychologists which opens up a new field 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 experts from a team of psychologists who have domain expertise, and computer scientists who have the ability to create large-scale tracking systems and manage and analyze the resulting data.
But until recent, there was hardly any cooperation between the two fields. Google directors, for example are more likely to have completed studies in computer and computational sciences (29%) than psychology (less than 2percent). This has resulted in the absence of psychology within the top management of tech companies, with the result that many technology products do not take into account psychological principles.