Dr. Deeviya Francis Xavier, MPhil. BEng.
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Research interests
Dr. Deeviya Francis Xavier investigates when and why AI support strengthens people’s sense of control, engagement, and learning, and when it can inadvertently erode these outcomes. Her current work examines how different forms of AI-generated feedback influence perceived challenge and boredom during tasks, and how these effects depend on the psychological and contextual conditions under which feedback is received. She is particularly interested in boundary conditions such as individual differences (for example, self-beliefs and attentional factors), situational demands (for example, task difficulty and uncertainty), and sociocultural context, with the goal of informing human-centered, context-sensitive AI systems and interventions.
CV
Dr. Deeviya Francis Xavier is a postdoctoral interdisciplinary researcher at the intersection of educational psychology and human-AI interaction. Her research examines how people learn, feel, and make decisions with AI, with a focus on emotions, motivation, affect, and the conditions under which individuals adopt or reject AI suggestions. At the University of Vienna, she teaches at Master’s level, including an advanced seminar with a special focus on educational psychology and societal implications of AI.
Dr. Francis Xavier received her doctorate in psychology from the University of Vienna (2025). Prior to joining the University of Vienna, she worked as a Research and Development Engineer and holds an MPhil in Chemical Engineering (2017) and a BEng (Hons) in Chemical Engineering (2015), both from the University of Nottingham.
Publications
2025
Xavier, D. F., Korunka, C., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2025). AI integration and workforce development: Exploring job autonomy and creative self-efficacy in a global context. PLoS ONE, 20(6 June), Article e0319556. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319556
Xavier, D. F., & Korunka, C. (2025). Integrating Artificial Intelligence across cultural orientations: A longitudinal examination of creative self-efficacy and employee autonomy. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 18, Article 100623. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100623