Astrid Carolus

Astrid Carolus is a psychologist and researcher at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. Her work focuses on how people interact with digital technologies, the motives that shape their use, and the cognitive, emotional, and social effects that arise from these interactions.

She studied psychology at Saarland University and completed both her doctorate and habilitation at the University of Würzburg, where she currently works as a Senior Researcher. In addition, she is active as a speaker and coach on topics at the intersection of humans and technology.

In research and teaching, she focuses on human–technology interaction as well as the conceptualization, measurement, and development of AI competencies. At the same time, she emphasizes that successful interaction with AI depends not only on competencies but also on psychological factors, which she summarizes as the AI Mindset. This psychological perspective also shapes her research on interactions with AI systems: she examines how technologies such as chatbots are perceived as quasi-social counterparts and how these quasi-social encounters influence how people perceive and use technology.