Research interests

  • Effects of technology on well-being and social interaction
  • Social robots and assistive technologies
  • User experience evaluation and design
  • Psychology of self-improvement and motivational products

Academic career

since 2015
Professor of Economic Psychology and Human-Technology Interaction, University of Munich
2009-2015
Research assistant in the field of “User Experience and Ergonomics in Design”, Folkwang University of the Arts
2012
PhD, University of Koblenz-Landau
2011-2012
Research assistant in the field of “Psychological Ergonomics”, University of Würzburg
2007-2009
Research assistant in the field of Economic Psychology and Human-Technology Interaction, University of Koblenz-Landau
2002-2007
Diploma in Psychology, Technical University of Darmstadt

Selected publications

Journal articles

  • 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
  • Moosheimer, E., Diefenbach, S. (2026). Responsible Automation. Exploring the impact of device automation on responsibility for the task result in a field study. Interacting with Computers.
  • Krupp, A., Ullrich, D., Diefenbach, S. (2026). The Challenge to Design for Relatedness Experiences. A Systematic Evaluation of Psychological Needs Conflicts and Barriers of Relatedness Technologies. In Proceedings of the CHI 2026 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York: ACM Press.
  • Ullrich, D., Bischoff, E. & Diefenbach, S. (2025). The Cassandra Method: Using Dystopian Visions to Inform Responsible HCI Design and Evaluation. In Proceedings of the 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (OZCHI '25), 505 – 529. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3764687.3764710
  • Tretter, S., von Terzi, P. & Diefenbach, S. (2025). How the presence of others shapes the user experience of service robots. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 12. https://doi:10.3389/frobt.2025.1538711
  • Hein, I. & Diefenbach, (2025). Towards a Comprehensive View on Technology Transparency: A Cross-Technology Investigation of Psychological and Design Factors Around Users' Transparency Need and Perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 41(24), 15862–15879. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2025.2502983
  • Diefenbach, S., Riehle, A., Jannott, H., Vornhagen, J.-S., Stoll, J., Markhoff, L., & von Terzi, P. (2025). Psychological needs related to civil inattention: A qualitative and quantitative view on public encounters. British Journal of Social Psychology, 64 (1), e12828. https://doi:10.1111/bjso.12828
  • Eger, V. M., Georganta, E., Zuercher, P. D. J., Mueller, F., Bohné, T., & Diefenbach, S. (2024). The power of play: gamification in virtual workplace training. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 1–19. https://doi:10.1080/1359432X.2024.2412360
  • Diefenbach, S., Ullrich, D., Lindermayer, T., & Isaksen, K.-L. (2024). Responsible Automation: Exploring Potentials and Losses through Automation in Human–Computer Interaction from a Psychological Perspective. Information, 15(8), 460. https://doi:10.3390/info15080460
  • Diefenbach, S. (2022). Social norms in digital spaces: Experience reports on wellbeing and conflict in the teleworking context and implications for design. Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41449-022-00332-8
  • Diefenbach, S., Christoforakos, L., Ullrich, D., & Butz, A. (2022). Invisible but Understandable: In Search of the Sweet Spot between Technology Invisibility and Transparency in Smart Spaces and Beyond. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 6(10), 95. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti6100095
  • 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
  • Tretter, S. & Diefenbach, S. (2021). The Buffer Effect: Strategic Choice of Communication Media and the Moderating Role of Interpersonal Closeness. Journal of Media Psychology, 34(5). https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000320
  • Gertz, M., Schütz-Bosbach, S., & Diefenbach, S. (2021). Smartphone and the Self: Experimental investigation of self-incorporation of and attachment to smartphones. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 5(11), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/mti5110067
  • Diefenbach, S. & Anders, L. (2021). The Psychology of Likes: Relevance of Feedback on Instagram and Relationship to Self-esteem and Social Status. Psychology of Popular Media, 1(2), 196–207. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000360
  • von Terzi, P., Tretter, S., Uhde, A., Hassenzahl, M., & Diefenbach, S. (2021). Technology-mediated experiences and social context: Relevant needs in private vs. public interaction and the importance of others for positive affect. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.718315
  • Ullrich, D., Butz, A., & Diefenbach, S. (2021). The development of overtrust: An empirical simulation and psychological analysis in the context of human-robot interaction. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.554578
  • Ullrich, D., Butz, A., & Diefenbach, S. (2020). The eternal robot: Anchoring effects in human's mental models of robots and their self. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2020.546724
  • Diefenbach, S. & Müssig, A. (2018). Counterproductive effects of gamification: An analysis on the example of the gamified task manager Habitica. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 127, 190-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2018.09.004

Books & Book chapters

  • Diefenbach, S., Ullrich, D. & Butz, A (2024). Aggregation & Distribution: Beyond the Singular Form. In J. Banks (ed.) Android, Assembled: The Explicit and Implicit Anatomy of Social Robots (ch. 14). New York: Peter Lang.
  • Diefenbach, S. & von Terzi, P. (2022). Digitale Gesellschaft neu denken: Chancen und Herausforderungen in Alltags- und Arbeitswelt aus psychologischer Perspektive. Kohlhammer.
  • Diefenbach, S., & Hassenzahl, M. (2019). Psychology in product design. In: K. Gangl & E. Kirchler (Eds.), A research agenda for economic psychology. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Diefenbach, S. (2019). Wieso zwei halbe Stück Kuchen dicker machen als ein ganzes. Psychologische Denkfallen entlarven und überwinden. mvg.
  • Diefenbach, S. & Hassenzahl, M. (2017). Psychologie in der nutzerzentrierten Produktgestaltung. Mensch – Technik – Interaktion – Erlebnis. In F. C. Brodbeck, E. Kirchler & R. Woschee (Hrsg.), Die Wirtschaftspsychologie. Springer.
  • Diefenbach, S., & Ullrich, D. (2016). Digitale Depression: Wie neue Medien unser Glücksempfinden verändern. mvg.

Conference papers

  • Diefenbach, S., Ullrich, D., Veihelmann, M. (2026). Responsible Use of AI – Dream or Achievable Goal? Reflections On The Gains And Losses Of AI in Everyday Life. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3798582
  • Diefenbach, S., Ullrich, D., (2026). Why We Need to Destroy the Illusion of Speaking to A Human: Critical Reflections On Ethics at the Front-End for LLMs. In Proceedings of the CHI 2026 Workshop: Ethics at the Front-End: Responsible User-Facing Design for AI Systems (CHI '26), April 13--17, 2026, Barcelona, Spain. http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16633
  • Diefenbach, S., Stoll, J., Ullrich, D. (2025). Critical Foresight of Human-Computer Interaction: A Review on Methods to Assess Ethical Risks and Side-Effects of Emerging Technologies. In: Tareq Z. Ahram, Waldemar Karwowski and Pei-Luen Rau (eds) Human-Computer Interaction & Emerging Technologies. AHFE (2025) International Conference. AHFE Open Access, vol 195. AHFE International, USA. http://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1006218
  • Ullrich, D., Butz, A., & Diefenbach, S. (2024). The Fernstudent. A User-Centered Design Case Study on Improvements of Hybrid Teaching Through A Physical Avatar in the Classroom. Fernstudent Case Study. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Article No.: 534, https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3637144
  • Diefenbach, S. & Borrmann, K. (2019). The Smartphone as a Pacifier and its Consequences. Young adults' smartphone usage in moments of solitude and correlations to self-reflection. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (paper 306). New York, NY, USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300536
  • 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 (ICED19), Delft, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1017/dsi.2019.176

Selected interviews and talks

Selected research projects

  • "VEREINT - Sich VERbundEn fühlen durch INTeraktive Technologien", funded by BMFTR (German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space)
  • "MOVEN - Motivationale und Verhaltensändernde Nachhaltigkeitstechnologien", funded by BMFTR (German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space)
  • "Gina – Hochwertig gestaltete Interaktionsstrategien für Service- und Assistenzrobotik", funded by BMFTR (German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space)
  • "PerforM – Personalities for Machinery in Personal Pervasive Smart Spaces", funded by DFG (German Research Association) as part of SPP "Scalable Interaction Paradigms for Pervasive Computing Environments" (SPP 2199)
  • "Aesthetics of Performative Interaction for Pervasive Computing Environments in Public Spaces", funded by DFG (German Research Association) as part of SPP "Scalable Interaction Paradigms for Pervasive Computing Environments" (SPP 2199)
  • "ProFI - Zielgerichtetes Prototyping für gesteigerte Innovation", funded by BMFTR (German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space)

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