Abstract: The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming current creative processes, challenging the romantic ideal of creation ex nihilo (from nothing) in favor of networked creativity that connects distant ideas. Acting as „boredom-killing machines,” AI and digital technologies pose a risk to the depth of creative work. The elimination of „idle time” deprives the brain of the essential phase of incubation and mind-wandering, which can limit the emergence of the most unique associations and original problem-solving. Furthermore, widespread reliance on algorithms fosters the phenomenon of „digital amnesia” and weakens the tendency for independent, deep cognitive analysis. Consequently, AI must be restricted to a supportive role under human supervision, necessitating urgent legal regulations to protect the unique, emotional core of creative works.

Grzegorz (Greg) Strząbała

is an IT Lead and Security & Compliance Specialist at Netwise (a multiple-time Microsoft Partner of the Year) and a certified cyberpsychologist of the Polish Institute of Cyberpsychology, Cyberpsychopathology and Cyberpsychotraumatology. For over three years he has led Microsoft 365, identity and security (Zero Trust, Defender, Purview, privileged access management); previously an Incident Manager at Cisco. He combines hands-on engineering and IT-team leadership with a cyberpsychology perspective, focusing on the „human factor” in cybersecurity — the conviction that most incidents begin with human decisions rather than technological failure. Founder and host of the internal „SecuriTEA” workshop series (including a session on deepfakes and social engineering).

A Machine’s Conscience? Ethical, Moral and Technical Aspects of Using Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has entered everyday life — work, health, media and decisions about people — faster than our understanding and regulation can follow. This talk brings together three perspectives. Technical: how AI works and where its errors come from — data, the “black box”, bias and “hallucinations” (Mehrabi et al., 2021; Ji et al., 2023). Ethical: the five principles around which a global consensus converges — transparency, justice, non-maleficence, responsibility and privacy — complemented by explicability (Jobin et al., 2019; Floridi & Cowls, 2019). And moral/human: who is accountable for a machine’s decision, how trust and over-reliance on AI (automation bias) work, and the psychological impact. From a cyberpsychology standpoint, I show why the “human factor” is both the weakest link and the strongest defence, and how deepfakes and disinformation exploit our cognitive biases. Finally, practical principles for responsible AI use: human-in-the-loop, digital literacy, and the EU AI Act as it phases into force.

Katarzyna Śmierciak

Nutrition & Eating Psychology Specialist(Polish: psychodietetyk) and Psychologist in spe (master’s thesis defence in psychology: March 2027), journalist and specialist in media and social communication. Founder and host of “(NIE)Anonimowi Cyfroholicy” (“(Not) Anonymous Cyberholics”) a free online support group on rebuilding balance between the online and offline worlds.

Certified social-skills trainer (TUS/TZA, levels I and II) and mental-health-prevention educator; graduate of SWPS University; ICF-standard coaching training (Collegium Civitas).

Over 20 years of experience working with people and in international settings. Her professional and research interests focus on the impact of technostress, overstimulation and social media on mental wellbeing and the relationship with food.

Diet by influencer: Nutrition misinformation, pseudoscience, and the psychology of trust online

Social media have displaced traditional sources of nutrition knowledge, and content is often produced by people without qualifications. This talk maps the scale of nutrition misinformation: on TikTok, 10.8% of posts were entirely false mostly about weight loss (Diyab et al., 2025) while a literature review found that over 62% of studies concerned “miracle diets”, frequently linked to orthorexia (Segado Fernández et al., 2025). It explains the psychological mechanisms of trust in influencers (heuristics of attractiveness and popularity, simple stories over data, the promise of control) and the role of an algorithm that rewards engagement rather than accuracy. The talk addresses the cost of bad advice and offers a practical “filter” for the critical reception of food content.

Gizem Dogan

Gizem Dogan is a digital artist and psychologist holding a BA in Visual Communication and Interactive Media Design and a BA in Psychology from SWPS University. Her work focuses on the interdisciplinary intersection of psychology and the ethical design of digital mental health interventions.

Believing AI Understands You: The Role of Perceived Empathy in Emotional Relief Through Chatbots

Artificial intelligence (AI) based chatbots are increasingly used in therapeutic contexts, yet questions remain about whether their effectiveness depends on genuine empathy or users’ perceptions of being understood.

Based on a literature review of research published between 2020 and 2025, this presentation covers perceived empathy as a key psychological mechanism underlying emotional relief during AI interactions. Studies across experimental and clinical designs consistently show that AI-generated responses are often rated as equal to or more empathic than those produced by humans, including trained professionals. Evidence further suggests that perceived empathy supports the formation of a digital therapeutic alliance and it is associated with improved emotional and clinical outcomes in some contexts. To expand on this, I share findings from my experimental study, which investigates whether beliefs about an AI chatbot’s empathic abilities influence perceived empathy and emotional relief. I further discuss ethical challenges related to the responsible integration of AI

Alex Maryniak

I’m a fourth-year psychology student. My interests include Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and its application in clinical practice. I conduct research focused on eating disorders.
I expand my knowledge of people, philosophy, and the cosmos through entertainment. Recently, I’ve been intensively researching the topics of death, grief, and transhumanism. I enjoy meditating on long walks and writing. I secretly strive towards constructing a posthuman hive-minded society to improve the condition of all sentient life while our collective future is still in the making.

dr hab. Dorota Merecz-Kot, prof. UŁ

a psychologist, educator and a researcher at the Institute of Psychology at University of Lodz. One of her primary interests is the usage of new technologies for the purpose of improving well-being. Aside from the academic duties she actively supports people in the terminal phase of illness and their close ones as well as accompanies those who grieve in coping with the pain of loss.

Speaking of grief or speaking against it – the thematic analysis of griefbot use by the bereaved.

Over the years the emphasis of moving on after a loss turned towards the continuation of bonds with the deceased, either by conversation, or memory boxes and rituals. Technological advancements now permit people to create a digital version of similar archives and contact the virtual replica of the deceased on a multimodal level, engaging all the senses. Griefbots are AI-agents fed with data left behind by the person. Usually contacted after the death it is designed to help people process grief when social contact is scarce or a person is in need for closure. Some deploy the same mechanism in order to grant themselves digital immortality and comfort their loved ones after they themselves are gone.
Countless articles have been published, where the use of griefbots was investigated by the responses to validated measures, however, there still is a gap in reaching the bedrock of everyday, uninformed understanding of both AI and griefbots that people experience. People may find themselves aware, as never before, of mental processes encompassing the experience of loss and grief as well as torn between enticing possibility of resurrecting their close ones through the use of a chatbot and aversion to artificial intelligence.
The aim of the thematic analysis is to provide more insight into the laypeople’s perspective on the use and impact of griefbots through the comparison of the use for the chatbot to process grief and for the purpose of mimicking/ impersonating the deceased. Through the thematic analysis of texts we will be aiming to uncover main themes that emerge from the discussions about griefbots in the common, natural setting. Comments and posts on social platforms that matched key words were analysed since, they are believed to provide a natural display of the judgment towards the social trend in question.

Abeeha Raza

I am Abeeha Raza, a Master’s student in Psychology at Istanbul Aydın University. I am passionate about psychological research, with a particular interest in well-being, autonomy, body image, and life satisfaction. My research focuses on understanding the psychological and social factors that shape individuals’ quality of life. Through my work, I aim to contribute to evidence-based research that promotes mental health and psychological well-being.

The Role of Social Support in Enhancing Psychological Well-Being and Quality of Life among Students: A Systematic Review

Social support describes the extent to which individuals are accepted, cared for, and supported by significant others. It is one of the most common concepts in psychology (Ethan Zell, 2024). The term „social support” is very broad and includes various dimensions such as instrumental support (concrete help, money, or physical assistance), emotional support (empathy, caring, trust, and understanding of others’ feelings), and informational support (guidance, knowledge, or advice). Social support is considered a protective factor that promotes the well-being and quality of life of students. Academic stress, financial challenges, social and emotional stress, and other developmental factors affect their mental and emotional health. Social support plays a crucial role in strengthening resilience and improving quality of life. This systematic review summarizes current findings on the relationship between social support, mental well-being, and quality of life of students in various educational institutions. This systematic review considers peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2026 from major electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. Research indicates that social support has a significant impact on the mental health and overall quality of life of students. To foster a healthy learning environment, educational institutions should prioritize activities that strengthen supportive peer networks, family involvement, and on-campus psychological counseling services. Future studies should utilize longitudinal and cross-cultural approaches to better understand how different forms of social support affect student well-being.

Paulina Aleksandra Hernandez

Paulina Aleksandra Hernandez, Bachelor of Engineering – psychology student and researcher interested in human–AI relationships, cyberpsychology and emotion regulation in the context of technological change. Her work focuses on how artificial intelligence influences relational behaviour, communication and seeking support. She is particularly interested in the psychological mechanisms underlying emotionally significant interactions with chatbots, including their potential role as substitute relationships and emotional buffers. She also creates popular science content on psychology and artificial intelligence.

Between Comfort and Confrontation: Interactions with AI as a Form of Emotion Regulation

Artificial intelligence has become part of everyday communication, with chatbots increasingly used for personal and emotionally significant conversations. Users engage with them not only as tools but also in interactions that may resemble simplified forms of relationships. This raises the question of whether AI can function as a substitute relationship and which psychological mechanisms contribute to choosing chatbot interaction over contact with another person.
This study examines human–chatbot interaction in the context of relational needs and the avoidance of interpersonal confrontation. It assumes that chatbots provide a distinctive form of contact that is predictable, controllable and associated with lower emotional risk. Such characteristics may make AI particularly appealing when users seek emotional support, validation or help in organising their experiences.
The theoretical framework draws on research concerning anthropomorphism, emotion regulation, relational functioning and avoidance mechanisms. It also distinguishes between interactions that provide comfort and validation and those that introduce tension, challenge the user’s interpretation or encourage confrontation with difficult aspects of a situation.
A mixed-methods approach was adopted. A survey among young adults examines experiences of using AI for personal conversations, communication preferences and attitudes towards interpersonal confrontation. In addition, a qualitative comparative analysis investigates chatbot responses to the same interpersonal problem under three conditions: default, supportive and confrontational.
The study explores whether preference for AI interaction is associated with the need to reduce emotional tension and avoid the risks involved in human relationships. It also considers whether chatbot interaction merely facilitates avoidance or may instead function as an emotional buffer that prepares users for subsequent interpersonal confrontation. The findings may contribute to further research on the role of AI in relational and social functioning and support the design of systems responsive to users’ diverse psychological needs.

Karolina Ceran

​I have been working in the financial sector for over nine years, specializing in risk management for the past five. I have supported organizations in building digital resilience and implementing regulatory requirements, including DORA. Currently, I focus on ICT risk management. My background also encompasses control functions, operational event and incident analysis, business continuity management, and developing a risk culture. Throughout my career, I have also designed and delivered internal training programs, supporting executive management and business units in risk management—including IT and cyber risk. I am a member of the Women Go Cyber association and a participant in the Cyber Women PRO program. I am particularly interested in cyberpsychology and social engineering.

Security Begins With the Human – The Psychology Behind Clicking “OK”

Have you ever clicked “OK” on a prompt just to make it go away? You aren’t alone—and that single, automatic reflex is precisely what cyber attackers count on.
While advanced technology and robust security tools are essential, investing in tech alone is simply not enough if we overlook the human element.
This talk explores how emotions such as time pressure, fear, routine and authority can override even the best‑designed security procedures. I explain how social engineering exploits natural human reactions, creating a gap between compliance on paper and real behaviour. It is a story about how true security does not lie in technology, but in those brief, subtle moments when a person acts automatically and emotionally.
Join this talk to discover why true digital resilience requires combining strong tech defenses and regulations with continuous human education—and how understanding our human reactions forms our strongest line of defense.

Han Tran (Joy)

Han Tran (Joy) is a Master’s student in Psychology at the University of Wolverhampton. Her research focuses on personality psychology, self-regulation, digital psychology, social media, and psychological well-being. She currently serves as a Research Associate with Duke-NUS Medical School, United World Schools USA, RMIT University Vietnam, Ben Tre City Hospital, and LIFT: Leading Initiatives for Mental Health Transformation. Her work centers on psychometrics, cross-cultural psychology, digital behaviour, and quantitative research methods.

Task Value, Extraversion, and Academic Procrastination Among English-Proficient Vietnamese University Students: A Structural Equation Modelling Study

Academic procrastination remains a widespread challenge in higher education, yet relatively little is known about its psychological determinants in Southeast Asian contexts. This study examined the relationships between task value, extraversion, and academic procrastination among English-proficient Vietnamese university students using structural equation modelling. Results indicated that task value was a significant negative predictor of academic procrastination, whereas extraversion was not significantly associated with procrastination after controlling for relevant variables. These findings highlight the central role of motivational beliefs over personality traits in understanding academic procrastination and offer implications for interventions aimed at enhancing student engagement and self-regulated learning.

Maria Limniou

Dr Maria Limniou is a Senior Lecturer in Cyberpsychology at the University of Liverpool, with more than twenty years of experience in higher education. Her research sits at the intersection of psychology and digital technology, with a focus on technology‑enhanced learning, digital environments, and online communication. Her work spans two main areas. The first, Technology‑Enhanced Learning, examines how digital tools, such as virtual simulations, multimedia resources, virtual reality, and communication platforms, shape learning in higher education, with particular attention to student engagement, motivation, and knowledge construction. The second, Technology‑Facilitated Digital Behaviour, explores how people interact with digital environments and the psychological consequences of those interactions, including cybercrime, problematic social media use, digital well‑being, hybrid work, digital marketing, and AI‑mediated communication. Dr Limniou has published extensively, collaborates with national and international partners, and supervises PhD students across both areas. Her work contributes to advancing understanding of human–technology interaction and improving digital education and online behaviour research.

Enhancing Digital, Employability and Research Skills Through Student Partnerships in Cyberpsychology Teaching and Problematic Technology Use Research

This session presents a student-partnership approach that integrates cyberpsychology teaching with research on problematic technology use, strengthening both digital capability and employability skills. Through research‑informed activities, such as literature critique, blog production, peer dialogue, and reflective analysis, students develop transferable competencies in digital communication, collaboration, and evidence‑based reasoning. By translating complex psychological concepts into accessible digital outputs for non‑specialist audiences, they enhance confidence in academic communication and gain skills relevant to research, education, media, and technology‑rich professional environments.

The partnership model also advances research on problematic technology use and its implications for well‑being across diverse populations, including university students and social media users. These projects provide an authentic context for examining how digital practices influence mood, self‑esteem, body image, loneliness, and everyday functioning. Students critically evaluate methodological strengths and limitations, consider demographic and contextual differences, and identify implications for practice, deepening their understanding of the social relevance of cyberpsychology.

By combining collaborative knowledge construction with active engagement in contemporary digital‑life issues, this approach positions students not merely as consumers of knowledge but as contributors to it. Through critique, discussion, and peer feedback, they connect theory with lived experience while developing adaptability, digital fluency, and critical judgement; capabilities essential for modern professional environments.

Overall, this student‑partnership pedagogy enriches cyberpsychology education by bridging academic learning with employability development. At the same time, it equips students and a non-specialist audience with research on problematic technology use and its varied effects on well-being, making the learning experience both professionally relevant and socially meaningful.

Bartosz Machnik

Bartosz Machnik works at the intersection of cybersecurity and psychotherapy. He supports organizations in building secure and resilient digital environments, specializing in security audits and compliance with ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 22301, NIS2, and DORA requirements. In parallel, he works as a psychotherapist in a private psychotherapy center and runs his own private practice, helping people develop greater self-awareness, psychological resilience, and authentic relationships. His work is guided by trust, clarity, and precision. He is particularly interested in psychology, technology, and the ways in which the human mind interacts with the digital world.

Between Simulation and Attachment: Why Can We Fall in Love with Artificial Intelligence?

The development of generative artificial intelligence has increasingly pushed human–technology interaction beyond the mere exchange of information, allowing it to take on a more emotionally relational form. Users of conversational AI systems report feelings of closeness, attachment, trust, and, in some cases, romantic involvement with AI.
The aim of this presentation is to explore the psychological mechanisms that may contribute to the formation of such bonds. These will include anthropomorphism, the attribution of mental states, social presence, self-disclosure, perceived responsiveness, and attachment mechanisms. Particular attention will be given to how the availability, personalization, and non-judgmental nature of interactions with AI may foster feelings of intimacy and being understood.

Rafał Gudziński

Rafał Gudziński works on the analysis of cyber threats from a behavioural perspective and on producing analytical materials concerning complex phenomena in the digital environment. He completed an MSc in Cyberpsychology at Nottingham Trent University. His interests centre on the intersection of cyberpsychology, organisational psychology and cyber threat analysis.

The Psychology of Industrialised Digital Fraud: Scam Compounds from the Perspective of Cyberpsychology and Organisational Psychology

This paper addresses scam compounds — organised online fraud structures operating primarily in Southeast Asia, in which psychological manipulation is industrialised and subordinated to the logic of mass production. These structures create an organisational environment in which digital crime intersects with coercion and human rights violations. The presentation analyses how scam compounds affect both the people being defrauded and those coerced into carrying out the fraud.

Prof. Dr. Stoyana Natseva

Prof. Dr. Stoyana Natseva is a professor, psychologist, researcher, and author whose work focuses on identity, behavioural change, educational psychology, psychological well-being, and human development. Her research includes the Internal Autobiographical Map (IAM), a framework examining autobiographical memory, identity structures, and psychological adaptation, as well as research on high-performance well-being and sustainable behavioural change. Her current interests include the psychological implications of artificial intelligence, digital behaviour, critical thinking, and the ways emerging technologies influence identity and human agency.

When AI Starts Thinking for Us: Digital Identity, Critical Thinking, and Behavioural Autonomy in the Age of Generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming more than an informational tool. Increasingly, individuals use AI to interpret personal experiences, evaluate relationships, make decisions, regulate emotions, formulate opinions, and determine courses of action. This development raises an important psychological question: what happens when cognitive and reflective processes traditionally performed by the individual are progressively outsourced to an artificial system?

This presentation examines the emerging relationship between generative AI, digital identity, critical thinking, and behavioural autonomy. Particular attention is given to automation bias, perceived authority, cognitive offloading, confirmation processes, and the psychological appeal of immediate, personalized responses. These mechanisms may increase efficiency and perceived support while simultaneously reducing independent evaluation and tolerance for uncertainty.

From an identity-based perspective, repeated reliance on externally generated interpretations may also influence how individuals construct narratives about themselves, their relationships, and their possibilities for action. The issue is therefore not simply whether AI provides accurate information, but how sustained AI-mediated interaction may participate in the construction and reinforcement of identity and behaviour.

The presentation proposes a psychologically responsible model of AI use based on maintaining human agency, reflective distance, source verification, and critical judgement. Rather than framing AI as inherently beneficial or harmful, it argues for understanding the conditions under which artificial intelligence supports human cognition and the conditions under which convenience begins to replace psychological autonomy.

Dr. Scott M. Debb, Professor of Cyberpsychology

Dr. Scott Debb is a tenured Full Professor of Psychology at Norfolk State University (NSU) in Virginia, USA, where he directs the Cyberpsychology Education & Research Lab (CyP3R) where he conducts research and serves as a student research mentor. He created the first stand-alone Master’s degree program in Cyberpsychology in the USA in 2018 and served as its first Program Coordinator. Dr. Debb has organized and hosted international academic events including NSU’s Cyber Analysis, Simulation and Experimentation Cyberpsychology Workshop in 2017 and the CYPSY24 Conference, held on the NSU campus in Norfolk, VA, in 2019. He served as Key Personnel on a 7-year, $7 million cybersecurity workforce diversification grant funded by the U.S. Department of Defense in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory, where he was able to establish interdisciplinary collaborations with researchers and clinicians across the international community of cyberpsychologists . A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Debb’s path into psychology was anything but linear, shaped by professional exploration and personal challenges that continue to inform his commitment to student mentorship and opportunities for personal and professional growth. Dr. Debb currently teaches within NSU’s MS CyberPsychology degree program, serves on the editorial boards of the academic peer-reviewed journals Cyberpsychology, Behavior, & Social Networking and Frontiers in Psychology: Media Psychology. Additionally, he is a Licensed Professional Counselor providing outpatient psychotherapy via telehealth, including public speaking events and educational consulting services through his private practice.

Preliminary Evaluation of a Dual Pathway Cognitive-Affective Professing Framework (CAPF) to Conceptualize Social Media-Based Political Polarization in the United States

Social media (SM) is the modern day ecosystem where people share information and are regularly exposed to politically oriented content, sometimes by conscious choice and other times through algorithmic content feed. This facilitates the conditions under which cognitive overload and subsequent offloading are more likely to occur, with a smaller percentage of SM users being able to effectively engage in reverse cognitive offloading (RCO) to regain primary control of their decision making. This study discusses preliminary development of a dual pathway Cognitive-Affective Processing Framework (CAPF) to examine the relevance of a reactive versus regulatory pathway to help understand what aspects of cognitive processing is more predictive of exposure to politically polarizing content and perception of the intensity of political polarization (PP) in general. In this study, respondents were all college students in the United States and asked specifically about their perceptions of PP in the current political climate in the US given their online engagement habits and exposure to affectively polarizing content specifically on SM. Using a parallel multiple-mediator model, daily SM use was examined as a predictor of stress and resilience, which were then considered as predictors of perceived PP. After controlling for basic demographic variables, active or passive SM engagement with political content, and one’s political ideology, results suggested greater number of hours of SM use per day was associated with lower psychological resilience but not with perceived stress. However, neither significantly predicted perceived PP and there were no significant direct or indirect effects of SM use on perceived PP. Political ideology, was only included as a covariate but interestingly was the only predictor of perceived PP, with more politically liberal and Democratic endorsement associated with greater perceived PP. These findings offered only partial support for the CAPF, potentially offering the conclusion that, at least for a non-clinical sample of undergraduate college students in the US, SM use may negatively impact one’s regulatory capacity yet not directly impacting perceptions of PP. Therefore, it suggests the need to examine individual differences beyond SM exposure and engagement style across diverse sociodemographic groups.