The Prospects for Psychological Science in Human-Computer Interaction

This paper discusses the prospects of psychology playing a significant role in the progress of human-computer interaction. In any field, hard science (science that is mathematical or otherwise technical) has a tendency to drive out softer sciences, even if the softer sciences have important contributions to make. It is possible that, as computer science and artificial intelligence contributions to human-computer interaction mature, this could happen to psychology. It is suggested that this trend might be prevented by hardening the applicable psychological science. This approach, however, has been critized on the grounds that the resulting body of knowledge would be too low level, too limited in scope, too late to affect computer technology, and too difficult to apply. The prospects for overcoming each of these obstacles are analyzed here. This essay presents the substance of an address by the first author to the ACM CHI '85 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in San Francisco, California, on April 14, 1985. Authors' present addresses: A. Newell, Department of Computer Science, CarnegieMellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213; S. K. Card, Intelligent Systems Laboratory, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304.