Over-Reliance on ChatGPT and Its Psychological Impact on Critical Thinking and Writing Skills among University Students

The high rate of adoption of artificial intelligence tools in the higher education has transformed the way students learn and write academic papers. ChatGPT is one of such tools that has become widely popular and is primarily because it can produce text that is coherent enough to be used in academic writing and also serves as a source of instant learning assistance. There is however increasing apprehension as to how much students rely on them and the possible psychological and cognitive implications. This paper examines how excessive dependence on ChatGPT affects the critical thinking and academic writing capabilities of university students, and focuses specifically on the psychological elements related to the effect of the topic, including learning autonomy, self-efficacy, and academic confidence. Using a mixed-methods design of research, data were gathered using a structured questionnaire on undergraduate and postgraduate students in both public and private Universities. The analysis of quantitative information was performed through descriptive statistics, reliability test, correlation and regression analysis whereas qualitative understanding assisted in interpreting the results. The findings indicate that the overuse of ChatGPT is closely linked to a decreased level of critical thinking, a lower level of competence in academic writing and a higher level of psychological dependency. The paper summarizes that ChatGPT has the potential to be a valuable academic aid, but the uncontrolled and excessive use of it can cause harm to the key higher-level learning results. The results present a valuable point of practice to educators, policymakers, and curriculum developers who would want to implement AI technologies in higher education without jeopardizing cognitive development and academic integrity.