Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello
@hellovic.bsky.social
Reposted by Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello
So excited to see this research! My students just learned the word “sycophantic” today, for exactly this reason! We talked about the types and qualities of conversations you can have with a sycophant, and why this matters for how we process the output of LLMs.
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.
Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Thread 🧵
Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.
Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Thread 🧵
October 1, 2025 at 5:44 PM
So excited to see this research! My students just learned the word “sycophantic” today, for exactly this reason! We talked about the types and qualities of conversations you can have with a sycophant, and why this matters for how we process the output of LLMs.
Reposted by Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.
Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Thread 🧵
Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.
Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Thread 🧵
October 1, 2025 at 3:16 PM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.
Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Thread 🧵
Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.
Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Thread 🧵
Reposted by Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello
These changes in personality are pretty shocking
August 8, 2025 at 1:54 PM
These changes in personality are pretty shocking
Reposted by Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello
Reposted by Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello
And some more on moral opposition to AI @yoelinbar.net @hellovic.bsky.social @reemayad.bsky.social @eloisecote.bsky.social @minzlicht.bsky.social
www.nuancebehavior.com/article/mora...
www.nuancebehavior.com/article/mora...
Moral Opposition to AI
Although executives push “AI‑first” for efficiency, new research shows most resistance stems from moral gut reactions, not cost‑benefit math. Research from Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello, Reem Ayad, Élo...
www.nuancebehavior.com
May 16, 2025 at 3:08 PM
And some more on moral opposition to AI @yoelinbar.net @hellovic.bsky.social @reemayad.bsky.social @eloisecote.bsky.social @minzlicht.bsky.social
www.nuancebehavior.com/article/mora...
www.nuancebehavior.com/article/mora...
Reposted by Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello
Want to feel better after using Instagram? Our new paper shows how. It's not about what you post, it's about how you respond to others' joy. In 4 studies (N=1327), focusing on sharing & caring about others' positive emotions improved mood & life satisfaction
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39883419/#:~....
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39883419/#:~....
A positive empathy intervention to improve well-being on Instagram - PubMed
With more than half the global population on social media, there is a critical need to understand how to engage it in a way that improves rather than worsens user well-being. Here, we show that positi...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
February 1, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Want to feel better after using Instagram? Our new paper shows how. It's not about what you post, it's about how you respond to others' joy. In 4 studies (N=1327), focusing on sharing & caring about others' positive emotions improved mood & life satisfaction
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39883419/#:~....
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39883419/#:~....
Reposted by Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello
1/ New paper led by Dariya Ovsyannikova & Victoria de Mello Oldemburgo.
Can AI offer empathy that’s better than humans? Maybe. Our new study found that people rated AI-generated responses as more compassionate than from humans, including trained crisis responders.
www.nature.com/commspsychol/
Can AI offer empathy that’s better than humans? Maybe. Our new study found that people rated AI-generated responses as more compassionate than from humans, including trained crisis responders.
www.nature.com/commspsychol/
January 11, 2025 at 1:08 AM
1/ New paper led by Dariya Ovsyannikova & Victoria de Mello Oldemburgo.
Can AI offer empathy that’s better than humans? Maybe. Our new study found that people rated AI-generated responses as more compassionate than from humans, including trained crisis responders.
www.nature.com/commspsychol/
Can AI offer empathy that’s better than humans? Maybe. Our new study found that people rated AI-generated responses as more compassionate than from humans, including trained crisis responders.
www.nature.com/commspsychol/
Reposted by Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello
I'm excited to share with you all that my paper on A Positive Empathy Intervention to Improve Well-being on Instagram with @minzlicht.bsky.social and Victoria Oldemburgo de Melo has been accepted for publication at Emotion 😁🥳 osf.io/preprints/ps.... In this work, we tested a brief intervention 1/3
November 18, 2024 at 10:58 PM
I'm excited to share with you all that my paper on A Positive Empathy Intervention to Improve Well-being on Instagram with @minzlicht.bsky.social and Victoria Oldemburgo de Melo has been accepted for publication at Emotion 😁🥳 osf.io/preprints/ps.... In this work, we tested a brief intervention 1/3