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The connection between psychology and computers is crucial to innovation and design of technology that is centered around the user. It’s also where many unintended injuries to people occur. 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, research in psychology relies on two fundamental methods of collecting data that are lab research and surveys or interviews [1]. The former focuses on a specific aspect in a small controlled setting, while the latter assesses broader behaviour using self-reporting questions or (potentially) structured interviews. Both have inherent limitations.

Computers can, however, store and analyze large amounts of data at a high speed and in ways which traditional methods aren’t able to. This makes them powerful new tools for psychological researchers, opening up a whole new realm of 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 composed of psychologists with expertise in the domain and computer scientists with the expertise needed to construct large-scale systems, manage and model data.

However, until recent, there was hardly any collaboration between the fields. For instance, Google directors have been more inclined to study computer and computational science (29 percent of them did so) in comparison to psychology (less than 2%). This has led to psychologists being under-represented as leaders in tech companies, resulting in that technology products are often unable to take psychological considerations into consideration.