Psychology 2.0 : towards a new science of mind and technology

The relationship between psychology and technology is a two-way street. On the one hand, we utilize knowledge about human cognition, affect, and behavior to design our technological artifacts, services, and environments such that, ideally, they seamlessly connect to our abilities, needs, and preferences. On the other hand, our technological tools are having a profound impact on our minds and deeply transform the relationship we have with our environments, other people, and our concepts of self. As we enter an age of personal and wearable technologies, sensory augmentation, affective computing, and ambient intelligence, psychology is challenged to offer a full understanding of the transformative potential and effects of such intimate human-technology mergers. At the same time, these technological innovations offer psychology a research toolkit that makes possible unprecedented forms of human behavior tracking and environmental simulation, combining methodological rigor with ecological validity. In his inaugural lecture, Wijnand IJsselsteijn will investigate conceptual, empirical, and methodological foundations of Psychology 2.0 - the scientific study of the confluence of mind and technology.