One of the main challenges of the 21st century is the creation of artificial intelligence. Not only IT specialists are working on this problem, but also psychologists. The correspondent of "Social Navigator" spoke with a senior researcher at the Center for Experimental Psychology at Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, associate professor, candidate of psychological sciences Dmitry Diveev about how to train modern psychologists and what skills they should have.
- Dmitry Alekseevich, the Institute of Experimental Psychology was established in 2016. What are the goals and intentions of the institute? What tasks should he solve? - There is an opinion in society that psychology is a humanitarian science based on emotional conversation, conversations. This is not entirely true. Psychology as a scientific discipline began with an experiment - a serious natural scientific method. Therefore, the main goal of creating the Institute of Experimental Psychology is to continue the tradition of conducting experimental research in the field of psychology. Secondly, to train personnel who could carry out experimental research using modern equipment and solve urgent problems, studying cognitive processes in human behavior, communication, activity, cognition.- And what are the tasks facing cognitive psychologists now? - There are a lot of tasks. For example, the problem of consciousness has not yet been solved. There is no answer to the question of what kind of reality it is, its purpose and possibilities. One of the most important problems of the 21st century, in my opinion, can be considered the problem of creating artificial intelligence. Cognitive psychology is directly related to this, since it is a cognitive sphere and a sphere of communication. And if we want to create a full-fledged artificial intelligence, then we cannot do without the research of psychologists. In the best case, we will get systems like emotion recognition or personality identification, but not the communicative structure inherent in human consciousness.
Another example is the connection between psychology and neuroscience, which studies the work of the brain, ranging from an individual neuron, its functions to network phenomena. How does all this affect a person's mental phenomena, how he perceives the world, thinks, solves problems, remembers, acts, communicates, how mental phenomena affect the work of the brain, how it is rebuilt in this case.
The Institute of Experimental Psychology includes a Bachelor's degree in Experimental Psychology and a Master's degree in Cognitive Psychology. Tell us about the content of these programs. What are students learning?
- The bachelor's degree provides a classical higher education, where they study philosophy, sociology, methodology, general psychology, and specialized areas of psychology. These are four years of professional disciplines.
The master's program consists of seven modules and is implemented on the basis of four centers. We use a center for experimental psychology, a center for neurocognitive research, a center for information technology and a center for neurobiological diagnostics of hereditary and psychological diseases in children and adolescents. For two years, undergraduates study seven modules, within which they master a variety of disciplines: from general theory and problems of modern psychology to highly specialized subjects, including working with an eye tracker, with virtual reality, with psychophysiological equipment.
What will graduates be able to work with after graduation?
- It is assumed that they will be able to work in areas related to cognitive processes, since they will have the skills of analysis and work on modern equipment. For example, engage in computer modeling of cognitive processes or study human behavior in various conditions. In principle, they can work in any government and commercial structures that require the ability to work with equipment and process this data. Now on the crest of popularity all over the world, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is a very serious thing, because it shows the results of the effectiveness of work with various psychological problems and disorders. Our graduates will be able to work in this area as well.
What kind of students are you expecting?
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- In our understanding, the ideal student should be interested in the development of a psychological experiment. He is interested in working with equipment, using mathematics in calculations, and studying modern research. This is an academic person. In reality, guys with different interests come to us, but the main thing is the desire to try themselves in this field.
Tell us about the 2019 admissions campaign. How many students do you plan to recruit for bachelor's and master's degrees? How many budget and paid places?
- This year we are recruiting 34 students for undergraduate studies, of which 24 will study on a budget and 10 on a paid basis. We recruit 27 people for the magistracy: 17 budget places and 10 paid ones.
Is there still an opportunity to submit documents? Until which date?
- Of course, applications are accepted until July 26.