Psychology and Computers

Psychology is no exception. Technology affects or impacts all aspects of life today, including psychology. Similar to how technology influences how people behave and think, and how they work, psychologists use technology to explore, understand and even treat mental disorders. The technology also helps psychologists in their research by making it possible for them to collect and analyse data much more quickly and accurately than they might be able to. Technology is a crucial part of the field of psychological research and treatment. From using computers for imaging using fMRI, to developing electronic tools for analyzing and tracking symptoms in patients suffering from depression or anxiety.

Technology also affects the way humans interact with the digital systems that they interact with on a regular basis. Many of the world’s most well-known technology companies have large departments staffed with psychologists who are destructive online activity and computer games experts in human perception and cognition conducting studies to study how people react to certain designs, and then recommend changes based on their findings. In the majority of cases, when you use a piece technology, such as your phone or Facebook you benefit by the collaboration between psychology and computer science.

At Notre Dame, Sidney D’Mello is among the many researchers working on the intersection between computers and psychology. His research focuses primarily on “affective Computing,” which is the study that studies how computers can recognize, and interpret, emotions. His team, for example, has developed a mathematical model that could assist computers in predicting when an individual is likely to become frustrated or anxious and take appropriate action before the event takes place.