Computers in Human Behavior

Although physiological synchrony (PS) is well documented in cooperative settings, recent research indicates that it can also arise in competitive interactions. However, the factors that shape PS under competitive conditions remain unclear. In one-on-one esports, two psychological factors appear central—the drive to defeat an opponent and ability to track and understand the evolving game situation…

The rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has raised concerns about students’ overreliance on these tools for academic and personal tasks. Although generative AI can enhance productivity and creativity, excessive use may undermine key learning competences. In this context, self-regulation may function as a crucial protective factor. This study examined the…

Research on online multiplayer gaming has adopted deficit-based perspectives, overlooking potential psychological benefits. Moreover, existing research has been conducted in Western, individualistic contexts, leaving an important gap in understanding how gaming functions among young adults in South Asian collectivist societies. This study investigates how Generation Z players in Pakistan perceive…

Online harms, such as hate speech, trolling and self-harm promotion, continue to be widespread. There are growing concerns that these harms may disproportionately affect women, reflecting and reproducing existing structural inequalities within digital spaces. Using a nationally representative survey of UK adults (N = 1992), we examine how gender shapes exposure to a variety of online harms, fears…

The goal of this study was to better understand pathways into cybercrime and the various stages that young people move through before engaging in criminal hacking behaviors. The study draws on unique data resulting from interviews with 22 criminal hackers from the Netherlands and the UK, of which 15 were caught by the police, and 7 were self-identified criminal hackers. Qualitative analysis revea…

Humans possess a sophisticated ability to read the mind in the eyes of other people. Here we tested whether this ability is also present in GPT-4o, a multimodal LLM. Using two versions of a widely used theory of mind test, the Reading the Mind in Eyes Test and the Multiracial Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, we found that GPT-4o outperformed humans in extracting mentalistic information from upr…

Image-based social media platforms like Instagram offer adolescents fertile ground for expressing multiple selves. On Instagram, adolescents are also confronted with the social norms of their peers' self-presentation. Based on an experimental vignette study with Instagram users aged 14 to 16 in Germany (N = 454), we investigated how the descriptive norms of staged self-presentation—“Keep it perfe…

With advancements in Large Language Models, AI chatbots are now widely used, offering near-human-like interactions. This study examines the emotional and psychological impacts of AI in communication, particularly when paired with human-like avatars and how AI-based communication compares to human interaction when users are either aware or unaware of their interaction partner's identity. A total o…