At first glance, it could appear as if psychology and computing are two separate fields. Psychologists study human behavior and mental health while computer scientists develop algorithms and designing software that helps people perform everyday tasks. In fact, these two fields overlap on a variety of levels. Some of the most interesting research in both fields is currently being conducted by combining psychology and computer science.

Computer science has made it much easier to conduct studies in psychology. For instance FMRI scans allow psychologists to determine which regions of the brain are activated during certain thoughts or actions. Online questionnaires can eliminate the biases that are inherent in paper and pencil surveys.

But it’s the collaboration between computer scientists and psychologists which has truly transformed the interaction we have with technology. The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction which was published in 1983 by three researchers from Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Stuart Card, Thomas Moran and Allen Newell, was one of the most important moments in the combination.

It brought research into how humans use computers firmly into the domain of computer science, detaching psychological techniques from their human context, and prompting psychologists to play catch-up. Branches of psychology already dealing with evaluations using numbers, such as psychometricians, discovered www.rebootdata.net/generated-post the computer science approach especially suited to their research.

Today, psychologists are working together with computer scientists to develop AI that will help us better understand human behavior. Psychologists are helping to create ethical guidelines for algorithms that could predict depression risk based on a person’s social media activity. And psychologists are incorporating cognitive behavioral therapy into virtual reality, which can be used to treat anxiety and other disorders.