DISCIPLINES CONTRIBUTING TO HCI

Cognitive Psychology Computer science

Social and organizational psychology

Ergonomics and human factors Engineering

HCI
Artificial Intelligence

Design

Anthropology

Linguistics

Philosophy

Sociology

1. Computer Science The main contribution of computer science is to provide knowledge about the capability of technology and ideas about how this potential can be harnessed. Various kinds of techniques to support software design, development and maintenance have been of concern to computer scientists.

Developments include; high level programming languages e.g. 4 th and and reverse engineering concepts and multimedia technology 2. Cognitive Psychology

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interface management systems #$%&'(, debugging tools, prototyping tools, re)use

This is concerned with understanding human behavior and the mental processes that underlie it. The important areas in *+% design are perception, attention, memory, learning, thinking and problem solving 3. Social and Organization Psychology This is concerned with studying the nature and causes of human behavior in a social conte,t. The four core concerns of psychology are The influence of one individual to another person.s attitudes and behavior. The impact of a group on its member.s attitudes and behavior The impact of a member on the group.s activities. The relationship between the structure and activities of different groups. The role of social and organi/ational psychology is to inform designers about social and organi/ational structures and about how the introduction of computers will influence working practices. 4. Ergonomics or Human actors The purpose of ergonomics is to define and design tools and various artifacts for different work, leisure and domestic environment to suit the capacities and capabilities of users. The role of ergonomics is to translate information from the above sciences into the conte,t of design. The ob0ective is to ma,imi/e operators such as safety, efficiency and reliability of performance to make a task easier and to increase feelings of comfort and satisfaction. !. "inguistics This is the scientific study of languages. 1ithin *+% understanding the structure i.e. #synta,( and meaning i.e. #semantics( is important in developing natural language interfaces and conventional analysis which has been used to understand how individuals and groups interact with computers in natural environments.

#. $rti%icial &ntelligence This is concerned with the development of intelligent computer programs which simulate different aspects of intelligent human behavior. %n particular the focus has been on presenting knowledge structures that are utili/ed in human problem solving. '. Philosophy( socializing and anthropology 2 ma0or concern of the disciplines has been to consider the implications of the introduction of %T to society ). Engineering and *esign 3ngineering is an applied science that takes the findings of science and utili/es it in the production of ob0ects. Design contributes skill and knowledge to this process. 4ote- *+% is neither the study of humans nor the study of technology but the bridge between these two. %ts role is to enhance the quality of interaction between humans and computer systems. This is achieved through systematically applying knowledge about humans goals, capabilities and limitations with knowledge about computer.s capabilities and limitations.