Does Humanity Matter? Analyzing the Importance of Social Cues and Perceived Agency of a Computer System for the Emergence of Social Reactions during Human-Computer Interaction

Empirical studies have repeatedly shown that autonomous artificial entities elicit social behavior on the part of the human interlocutor. Various theoretical approaches have tried to explain this phenomenon. The agency assumption states that the social influence of human interaction partners (repres...

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Main Authors: Jana Appel, Astrid von der Pütten, Nicole C. Krämer, Jonathan Gratch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2012-01-01
Series:Advances in Human-Computer Interaction
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/324694
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author Jana Appel
Astrid von der Pütten
Nicole C. Krämer
Jonathan Gratch
author_facet Jana Appel
Astrid von der Pütten
Nicole C. Krämer
Jonathan Gratch
author_sort Jana Appel
collection DOAJ
description Empirical studies have repeatedly shown that autonomous artificial entities elicit social behavior on the part of the human interlocutor. Various theoretical approaches have tried to explain this phenomenon. The agency assumption states that the social influence of human interaction partners (represented by avatars) will always be higher than the influence of artificial entities (represented by embodied conversational agents). Conversely, the Ethopoeia concept predicts that automatic social reactions are triggered by situations as soon as they include social cues. Both theories have been challenged in a 2×2 between subjects design with two levels of agency (low: agent, high: avatar) and two interfaces with different degrees of social cues (low: textchat, high: virtual human). The results show that participants in the virtual human condition reported a stronger sense of mutual awareness, imputed more positive characteristics, and allocated more attention to the virtual human than participants in the text chat conditions. Only one result supports the agency assumption; participants who believed to interact with a human reported a stronger feeling of social presence than participants who believed to interact with an artificial entity. It is discussed to what extent these results support the social cue assumption made in the Ethopoeia approach.
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spelling doaj-art-95fa24a64d0d4c5f86e189db5602541f2025-08-20T02:10:16ZengWileyAdvances in Human-Computer Interaction1687-58931687-59072012-01-01201210.1155/2012/324694324694Does Humanity Matter? Analyzing the Importance of Social Cues and Perceived Agency of a Computer System for the Emergence of Social Reactions during Human-Computer InteractionJana Appel0Astrid von der Pütten1Nicole C. Krämer2Jonathan Gratch3Department of Social Psychology: Media and Communication, University of Duisburg-Essen, Forsthausweg 2, 47057 Duisburg, GermanyDepartment of Social Psychology: Media and Communication, University of Duisburg-Essen, Forsthausweg 2, 47057 Duisburg, GermanyDepartment of Social Psychology: Media and Communication, University of Duisburg-Essen, Forsthausweg 2, 47057 Duisburg, GermanyInstitute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California, 12015 Waterfront Drive Playa Vista, Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536, USAEmpirical studies have repeatedly shown that autonomous artificial entities elicit social behavior on the part of the human interlocutor. Various theoretical approaches have tried to explain this phenomenon. The agency assumption states that the social influence of human interaction partners (represented by avatars) will always be higher than the influence of artificial entities (represented by embodied conversational agents). Conversely, the Ethopoeia concept predicts that automatic social reactions are triggered by situations as soon as they include social cues. Both theories have been challenged in a 2×2 between subjects design with two levels of agency (low: agent, high: avatar) and two interfaces with different degrees of social cues (low: textchat, high: virtual human). The results show that participants in the virtual human condition reported a stronger sense of mutual awareness, imputed more positive characteristics, and allocated more attention to the virtual human than participants in the text chat conditions. Only one result supports the agency assumption; participants who believed to interact with a human reported a stronger feeling of social presence than participants who believed to interact with an artificial entity. It is discussed to what extent these results support the social cue assumption made in the Ethopoeia approach.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/324694
spellingShingle Jana Appel
Astrid von der Pütten
Nicole C. Krämer
Jonathan Gratch
Does Humanity Matter? Analyzing the Importance of Social Cues and Perceived Agency of a Computer System for the Emergence of Social Reactions during Human-Computer Interaction
Advances in Human-Computer Interaction
title Does Humanity Matter? Analyzing the Importance of Social Cues and Perceived Agency of a Computer System for the Emergence of Social Reactions during Human-Computer Interaction
title_full Does Humanity Matter? Analyzing the Importance of Social Cues and Perceived Agency of a Computer System for the Emergence of Social Reactions during Human-Computer Interaction
title_fullStr Does Humanity Matter? Analyzing the Importance of Social Cues and Perceived Agency of a Computer System for the Emergence of Social Reactions during Human-Computer Interaction
title_full_unstemmed Does Humanity Matter? Analyzing the Importance of Social Cues and Perceived Agency of a Computer System for the Emergence of Social Reactions during Human-Computer Interaction
title_short Does Humanity Matter? Analyzing the Importance of Social Cues and Perceived Agency of a Computer System for the Emergence of Social Reactions during Human-Computer Interaction
title_sort does humanity matter analyzing the importance of social cues and perceived agency of a computer system for the emergence of social reactions during human computer interaction
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/324694
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