When you first begin thinking about it, psychology and computers may appear to be two completely distinct areas. Computer scientists create software and code algorithms to aid people in their daily lives while psychologists study human behavior and mental wellbeing. In reality, these two disciplines have a lot in common on many levels. In fact some of the most interesting research being conducted in both fields is involving mixing computer science and psychology.

Computer science has made it easier to conduct psychological research. For instance FMRI scans enable psychologists to see which areas of the brain are active during certain actions or thoughts. Online questionnaires also eliminate the biases that can be found in pencil and paper surveys.

However, it’s the collaboration between psychologists and computer scientists which has truly transformed the way we interact with technology. One of the most significant events in this fusion came in 1983, with the publication of The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction by three scientists at the Palo Alto Research Center of Xerox: Stuart Card, Thomas Moran, and Allen Newell.

It moved research into how humans use computers firmly into the realm of computer science, detaching psychological methods from their human context and causing psychologists to catch up. Psychometricians as well as other areas of psychology that deal with numerical evaluations have found the computer science method to be particularly beneficial.

Psychologists and computer scientists are working together to develop AI that can better comprehend human behavior. Psychologists are helping www.rebootdata.net/generated-post/ to develop ethical guidelines for algorithms that could predict the risk of depression based on the activity of a person’s social media. Psychologists are taking cognitive behavior therapy into virtual reality to treat anxiety disorders as well as other illnesses.