Please give me some advices!

[st33lr0s3]

I have recently graduated at Organizational and Social Psychology, but unlike most of my colleagues, during my degree I developed an interest in the computing field. As such I would like to apply my skills to this area. I just don’t know what exactly

Comments

[subtle_rift]

AI's a lot of fun, but it's frequently not what people think. There are several very disjointed branches of it, so all I can suggest is read up about it. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

[st33lr0s3]

Yeah.. I agree. I even read this link to understand better the AI area related to psychology. Because everytime I talked about AI they all thinked about programming. Well.. to say the truth, even the person who talked me about the psychology role in AI said that "even there you need to know some programming".
What do you have to say? Is this true?

[np_radical]

'AI' is not 'intelligence' by ANYONE'S definition. It's basically an algorithms or data structures field... for the most part. I recommend staying away from it.

[fop]

Have you ever considered computational linguistics? I would be happy to furnish you with a list of masters programs in the US.

[st33lr0s3]

What do you mean? Try to develop the computer language to become more like our natural language? If so.. Yes I considered, and I think that's interesting too. (That's one of my problems: I find everything interesting xD)
But what I really like is the human behavior and facial expressions. Maybe there's some research in those areas too? xD To try to make game characters more human-like xD I dunno.. I'm just guessing ;)

[plainnsimpcream]

1) Bio Feedback is a great synthesis of the two: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bio_feedback

2) As far as games go, the game The Wild Divine had interesting prospects, though I don't know how well they met the potential. It's an interactive video game that allows you to pass through stages by having to complete physiological tasks, like juggle balls by laughing or open a door by slowing your heart rate.
http://www.wilddivine.com/

3) Here is another site where technology is incorporated with psychological research:

http://www.brainresource.com/default.jsp

All the best to you,
Maya

[st33lr0s3]

OMG, I didn't know that those things exist! That's really something very curious and interesting. People controling there own physical processes! That will lead to so much more!... That's why I can end an headache if I focus on it.... well.. at least if they aren't stronger.. than I help with an aspirin ;P

[thecolorblue]

Look into HCI -- human computer interaction. It's a burgeoning field that combines cognitive science with computer science. It explores usability for software and hardware, as well as distributed cognition, ethnography (the study of how people use or do things, specifically with computers in this case) and human factors research (what cognitively works for people when they're using software). There is a pretty great Cog Sci program at UCSD (where I am) with several people studying HCI type stuff. I think there are also people in the comp sci program at UC Berkeley doing similar things. I can't really speak for other schools, but look at comp sci and cog sci programs to see what you can find on human factors or HCI, if this sounds appealing to you.

[np_radical]

I'm going to assert this point as well.
With a background like Organizational and Social Psychology, you're perfect for Human-Computer Interaction. There is a great deal of work going on in Collaborative software: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_software and this sort of research deals with social interactions in things like groupware and enhanced reality.
HCI is also a bit of an artform, and is a great discipline to pursue for someone with an interest in computing, but not as strong technical skills, plus A LOT of creativity.

[st33lr0s3]

(All Universities are in USA) ._.
But yeah! I already thought of that. I prefer software than hardware though.
I've been talked about determining what groups of people play their games and what those groups of people tend to look for in a game, for example, and they called psychographics. That's what you are talking about, right?
I think its a great ideia, but I rather do more than gathering all that information, like working with it.. doing some research around it, and use that to help develop some game, for example, or some new technique or interface..

[np_radical]

You will find HCI anywhere :) I live in Canada, and every university here has an HCI research lab.

[morbid_curious]

You might consider looking at Ubiquitous Computing (ubicomp) - a field that deals with pushing the computing out into human spaces, rather than making humans conform to computer-centric interaction. This includes things such as ambient devices (providing peripheral awareness of information), pervasive context-aware systems (that try to understand what people are doing so that an interaction is more natural), and tangible media (interaction via direct physical manipulation

[st33lr0s3]

I like the name.. but didn't undestand the concept -.-'
Because english is not my first language (as you probably notice already - eheh) I'm getting some dificulty to understand what Ubicomp really is.
But I will try to do some more research, because now you got me really curious about it! ;)