Dr. Lara Christoforakos
Research Assistant | Post-doc
Economic and Organisational Psychology
Postal address:
Leopoldstraße 13
80802 Munich
Research interests
- User experience evaluation and design
- Effects of technology on well-being and social interaction
- Agency and anthropomorphism in interactive technologies
- Social robots
- Sustainability technologies and behavior change
Academic career
- 2024
- Substitute professorship, Chair of Economic and Organisational Psychology, University of Munich
- 2022
- PhD, University of Munich
- since 2017
- Research assistant, Chair of Economic and Organisational Psychology, University of Munich
- 2014-2017
- Master of Science in Economic, Organisational and Social Psychology, University of Munich
- 2010-2014
- Bachelor of Science in Psychology, University of Munich
Publications
- Christoforakos, L., Jürgens, T. M., Busch, M., Beuckelmann, L., Laschke, M., & Diefenbach, S. (2026). When technology’s well-meant recommendations backfire: exploring the role of agency on psychological reactance in technology for sustainable behaviour change. Behaviour & Information Technology, 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2026.2628766
- Hämpke, J., Christoforakos, L., Bocaj, K., Huptas, L., Schlenker, I., Werth, L., & Diefenbach, S. (2026). If you phub, tell me why! How communicating a reason can reduce negative effects of phubbing. Behaviour & Information Technology, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2026.2699284
- Molkenthin, M., Christoforakos, L., Hassenzahl, M., & Laschke, M. (2025). Going green from within: correlational insights into the spread of pro-environmental behavior through the lens of organismic integration theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1692227. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1692227
- Kneile, M., Jürgens, T. M., Christoforakos, L., & Laschke, M. (2023). The thing that made me think: Navigating challenges and embracing opportunities of (pro-) active technology for behavior change in the context of sustainability. i-com, 22(2), 161-171. https://doi.org/10.1515/icom-2023-0019
- Christoforakos, L., & Diefenbach, S. (2023). Fulfilling social needs through anthropomorphic technology? A reflection on existing research and empirical insights of an interview study. Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 77(1), 78-91.
- Christoforakos, L., & Diefenbach, S. (2022). Technology as a Social Companion? An Exploration of Individual and Product-Related Factors of Anthropomorphism. Social Science Computer Review, 41(3), 1039-1062. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393211065867
- Christoforakos, L., Feicht, N., Hinkofer, S., Löscher, A, Schlegl, S. F., & Diefenbach, S. (2021). Connect With Me. Exploring Influencing Factors in a Human-Technology Relationship Based on Regular Chatbot Use. Frontierts in Digital Health, 3, 689999. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2021.689999
- Christoforakos, L., Gallucci, A., Surmava-Große, T., Ullrich, D., & Diefenbach, S. (2021). Can Robots Earn Our Trust the Same Way Humans Do? A Systematic Exploration of Competence, Warmth, and Anthropomorphism as Determinants of Trust Development in HRI. Frontierts in Robotics and AI, 8, 640444. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.640444
- Christoforakos, L., Tretter, S., Diefenbach, S., Bibi, S. A., Fröhner, M., Kohler, K., ... & Valkanova, N. (2019). Potential and Challenges of Prototyping in Product Development and Innovation-Insights from an Expert Discussion Among Researchers and Practitioners. i-com,18(2), 179-187. https://doi.org/10.1515/icom-2019-0010
- Diefenbach, S., & Christoforakos, L. (2017). The Selfie Paradox: Nobody Seems to Like Them Yet Everyone Has Reasons to Take Them. An Exploration of Psychological Functions of Selfies in Self-Presentation. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00007
- Ullrich, D., Diefenbach, S., Christoforakos, L., Surmava, T., & Quintes, C. (2019). Robotervertrauen: Eine Exploration vertrauensförderlicher Attribute der Robotergestaltung mittels Clusteranalyse. In Mensch und Computer 2019-Workshopband (pp.103.113). Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.
- Christoforakos, L., Diefenbach S., Kohler, K., & Tretter, S. (2018). Effektives Prototyping: Eine Stakeholder-orientierte Perspektive. In S. Hess & H. Fischer (Hrsg.), Mensch und Computer 2018 - Usability Professionals 2018 (S. 103-113). Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.
- Christoforakos, L., & Diefenbach, S. (2018). Idealization Effects in UX Evaluation at Early Concept Stages: Challenges of Low-Fidelity Prototyping. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 3-14). Springer.
- Christoforakos, L., Diefenbach, S. (2017). Erfolgreiches Prototyping im Ideenstadium der Produktentwicklung. In S. Hess & H. Fischer (Hrsg.), Mensch und Computer 2017 - Usability Professionals 2017 (S. 329-335). Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. https://doi.org/10.18420/muc2017-up-0193.
- Christoforakos, L. (2017). Jeder ist seines Glückes Schmied. In Psychologie der Sprichwörter (pp. 133-140). Springer.
- Diefenbach, S., Christoforakos, L., Ullrich, D., & Veihelmann, M. (2026, July). Sustainable AI: Exploring Gains and Losses of AI in Daily Routines. In AHFE 2026 International Conference (pp. 20-24)
- Schimpf, M., Maier, S., Wyrowski, A., Christoforakos, L., Feuerriegel, S., & Bohné, T. (2026, April). Supporting Effective Goal Setting with LLM-Based Chatbots. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-24).
- Christoforakos, L., Kolb, A., & Diefenbach, S. (2024, October). I did it once, but can I do it again? The role of responsibility attribution and self-efficacy in technology for sustainable behavior change. In Proceedings of the 13th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 1-15).
- Jürgens, T. M., Hassenzahl, M., Christoforakos, L., & Laschke, M. (2024, May). Giggling in the Shower: Humor Increases the Acceptance of Technology-mediated Behavioral Interventions. In Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-7).
- Grönewald, L., Weiblen, J., Laschke, M., Christoforakos, L., & Hassenzahl, M. (2023, April). Sustainability by Design. How to Encourage Users to Choose Energy-Saving Programs and Settings when Washing Laundry. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-14).
- Christoforakos, L., Borodkow, E., & Diefenbach, S. (2020). Who gets the fame, who is to blame? Empirical exploration of responsibility attribution in HCI. In T. Köhler, E. Schoop & N. Kahnwald (Eds.) Communities in New Media. From hybrid realities to hybrid communities. Proceedings of 23rd Conference GeNeMe. TUDpress.
- Ullrich, D., Diefenbach, S. & Christoforakos, L. (2020). Das Robot Impression Inventory – Ein modulares Instrument zur Erfassung des subjektiven Eindrucks von Robotern. In T. Köhler, E. Schoop & N. Kahnwald (Hrsg.), Communities in New Media. From hybrid realities to hybrid communities. Proceedings of 23rd Conference GeNeMe. TUDpress.
- Ullrich, D., Diefenbach, S., Christoforakos, L., Surmava, T., & Quintes, C. (2019). Robotervertrauen: Eine Exploration vertrauensförderlicher Attribute der Robotergestaltung mittels Clusteranalyse. In Mensch und Computer 2019-Workshopband (pp. 10-18420). Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.
- Christoforakos, L., Diefenbach, S., Ullrich, D., & Herzog, M. (2019). Die Roboterpersönlichkeit-Konzeption, Gestaltung und Evaluation der Persönlichkeit von sozialen Technologien. Mensch und Computer 2019-Usability Professionals, Hamburg, Germany.
- Diefenbach, S., Christoforakos, L., Maisch, B., & Kohler, K. (2019). The state of prototyping practice in the industrial setting: Potential, challenges and implications. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Engineering Design, Delft, Netherlands.
- Diefenbach, S., & Christoforakos, L. (2018).Gründe für das Selfie-Paradox – Attributionsfehler bei der Charakterbeurteilung im Kontext von Selfies. 51st Conference of the DGPS (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie), Frankfurt, Germany.
- Christoforakos, L., & Diefenbach S. (2018). Herausforderungen bei der validen Interpretation von Produktevaluationen - Idealisierungstendenzen bei Prototypen geringer Reichhaltigkeit. 51st Conference of the DGPS (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie), Frankfurt, Germany.
- Borrmann, K., Christoforakos, L. & Diefenbach S. (2018).Smart Coping? Smartphonenutzung zur Bewältigung negativer Emotionen in Momenten des Alleinseins und der Zusammenhang mit selbstre exiven Fähigkeiten. 51st Conference of the DGPS (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie), Frankfurt, Germany.
- Christoforakos, L., & Diefenbach, S. (2018). Idealization Effects in UX Evaluation at Early Concept Stages: Challenges of Low-Fidelity Prototyping. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 3-14). Springer.
- Christoforakos, L., & Diefenbach, S. (2016). “Das Selfie-Paradoxon – Kaum einer mag sie, alle tun es,” 50th Congress of the DGPS (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie), Leipzig, Germany.