Modelling Human Behaviour

Learning objectives

At the end of the course, the student has knowledge and understanding of: the role and purpose of models in designing systems aiming to understand and support human behaviour; different approaches and abstraction levels for modelling human behaviour; the process of applying models of human cognition and behaviour to the design of human-centred systems; the importance of evaluating the ethics and contextual appropriateness of model choice. The student is able to apply this knowledge to: select appropriate modeling abstractions, apply models of human cognition and behaviour to the design of human-centred systems, use models as a lens through which to critically analyse user interface design features, apply models to predict how agent or system behaviour will evolve over time. The student is able to make judgments about: model appropriateness for different human behaviours and contexts, ethical implications of computational behavioural interventions, limitations and biases inherent in different modeling approaches, responsible application of behavioural models in real-world systems. The student has acquired communication skills to: report in a scientific and critical manner about model design, evaluation and application. The student has acquired research skills to: read and interpret scientific texts from other domains (e.g. psychology, cognitive science), evaluating the validity of modeling results, critically assessing the impact of different modelling approaches.