The intersection of psychology and computers is an important juncture to the development of user-centered designs and innovation in technology. However, it’s also where the majority of accidental harms 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 primary methods of data collection that are lab tests and surveys or interviews [1]. The first focuses on a particular aspect in a controlled environment, while the latter assesses broader behaviors using self-reporting surveys or (potentially) structured interviews. Both have inherent weaknesses.

Computers, however, can record and analyze vast amounts of data at a high speed–and in ways that traditional methods cannot. This makes them powerful new tools for psychologists which opens up a new realm of www.rebootdata.net/destructive-online-activity-and-computer-games/ 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 team of experts: psychologists with domain knowledge, and computer scientists who have the ability to create large-scale tracking systems as well as manage and model the resulting data.

However, until recent, there was hardly any collaboration between the fields. For instance, Google directors have been more likely to study computer and computational science (29 percent had studied it), than psychology (less than 2percent). This is likely to have led to psychologists being under-represented in leadership at tech companies. The result is that technology products fail to take psychological aspects into account.