Psychology and Computers

Some see psychology and computers as two distinct fields that have very little in common. The most popular view is that computer science is an extremely rigorous and quantitative research culture while psychological studies are rooted in more qualitative studies of behavior and human perception.

But in fact most of the modern computer science is psychologically inspired. The design of technology interfaces ranging from car dashboards, to airplane cockpits as well as operating systems for computers to games controllers – are largely developed by psychologists working closely with computer scientists. Also, a large portion of psychology research is highly statistical and requires sophisticated software to process large data sets.

Psychologists are increasingly relying on technology to extend their reach. The traditional methods of experimentation in psychology, which focus on the behavior of a specific person in a controlled environment or assessing larger patterns of behavior using self-report questionnaires or interviews, have inherent limitations. (Experiments are usually restricted to a single experiment and longitudinal studies are not common because of the difficulty of gathering and analyzing large amounts of data.)

Computer technologies have opened up new ways to analyze people’s behavior. For example the brain-imaging technology fMRI could not be achieved without computers. Researchers can identify certain brain regions to cognitive processes like reading or memory. EEG (electroencephalography) is another example of a technology that uses computer processing to record and analyze brain activity.

CCBT is now acknowledged by the UK’s National Health Service as an effective treatment for mild to moderate anxiety and depression. Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to transform psychotherapy by replacing therapists with robots able to evaluate and hop over to here treat patients online.