Behavioural Computer Science

In a recently published article we coin the term Behavioural Computer Science and explain why one should base Human – Computer Interaction models more on psychological science’s knowledge about actual human behaviour, instead of basing the models primarily on an underlying assumption that human behaviour is rational.

Today, people interact more and more with complex intelligent systems in several domains, ranging from Smart Living and IoT (Internet of Things) to National Intellligence and Security. At the same time, a single intelligent system also interacts with other intelligent systems.

Complex interactions like these require that each agent — both humans and intelligent systems — can trust (or choose to distrust) the other parties in the interaction. To arrive at a state of trust, it is important for both humans and complex intelligent systems to understand — and to a certain extent also predict — the other parties’ behaviour.

Existing models for understanding and predicting behaviour in a Human Computer Interaction context are mainly founded on the underlying assumption that humans think and act rationally. But actual human behaviour may often deviate systematically from rational behaviour, particularly when the information to be processed is too complex or the time at one’s disposal is too limited. In situations like these, one may simply not be able to make rational judgments and decisions at all.

This phenomenon contributes to reducing trust and predictability in interactions between humans and intelligent systems. Thus, when designing intelligent systems that interact with humans and with other intelligent systems one should base the models more on the actual behaviour exhibited by both humans and intelligent systems, instead of relying on the primary assumption that behaviour is — or is going to be — rational.

To arrive at this state of trust, it is required that one monitors and conducts systematic studies of the agents’ actual behaviours in order to continuously update the interaction models with reliable knowledge about humans’ and intelligent systems’ actual behaviour in various contexts — that is, how they actually act, as opposed to how they should ideally act.

In the article Behavioural Computer Science: an agenda for combining modeling of human and system behaviours, published in the international academic journal Human-Centric Computing and Information Sciences by Springer, we explain the need to develop models that take take into consideration humans’ and intelligent systems’ actual behaviour, instead of relying on assumptions that the behaviour is — or is going to be — rational.

We also show how an existing interaction model can be updated with data on actual behaviour in order to provide more reliable knowledge — and consequently also increased trust and predictability — in the interaction between humans and intelligent systems.

The article is part of the projects Oslo Analytics and IoTSec at the University of Oslo, where one of the aims is to develop novel scientific models and methods for threat assessments and intelligence analysis in the intersection between humans and technology. This knowledge is, however, also relevant in other contexts where humans and intelligent systems interact.

If you want to know more about this topic, feel free to read and download a pdf-version of our original article completely free of charge via this link: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13673-018-0130-0

Who we are:

Tore Pedersen is Associate Professor, Dean of Academic Studies, and Director of Center for Intelligence Studies at the Norwegian Defence Intelligence School (NORDIS). He is also affiliated Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology, Bj?rknes University College, and Visiting Cognitive Scientist at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo. He received his PhD in Psychology from Karlstad University and has since researched various psychological-science aspects. He is currently engaged in experimental research on cognitive and procedural aspects in the National Intelligence and Security domain. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4502-0772

Christian Johansen is a researcher in the Precise Modelling and Analysis group of the University of Oslo (UiO) and member of the ConSeRNS interdisciplinary group “Concurrent Security and Resilience for Networked Systems”. He received PhD in 2010 from UiO and has worked since in different areas of computer science, including modelling of security protocols; modelling languages and verification of complex systems; models and tools for parallel programming and concurrent systems; (legal) electronic contracts. His work, more than 30 international articles, has been published in highly ranked conferences s.a. CONCUR, ATVA, or LFCS, and top journals s.a. JLAP.

Audun J?sang joined Oslo University as Professor in 2008. Prior to that he was Associate Professor at QUT, research leader of Security at DSTC in Brisbane, worked in the telecommunications industry for Alcatel in Belgium and for Telenor in Norway. He was also Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He has a Master’s in Information Security from Royal Holloway College, University of London, and a PhD from NTNU in Norway. He is a CISSP and CISM with broad knowledge and experience in information security.