Engaged and Affective Virtual Agents: Their Impact on Social Presence, Trustworthiness, and Decision-Making in the Group Discussion

Hanseob Kim, Bin Han, Jieun Kim, Muhammad Firdaus Syawaludin, Gerard Jounghyun Kim, Jae In Hwang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study investigates how diferent virtual agent (VA) behaviors influence subjects' perceptions and group decision-making. Participants carried out experimental group discussions with a VA exhibiting varying levels of engagement and afective behavior. Engagement refers to the VA's focus on the group task, whereas afective behavior reflects the VA's emotional state. The findings revealed that VA's engagements efectively captured participants' attention even in the group setting and enhanced group synergy, thereby facilitating more in-depth discussion and producing better consensus. On the other hand, VA's afective behavior negatively afected the perceived social presence and trustworthiness. Consequently, in the context of group discussion, participants preferred the engaged and non-afective VA to the non-engaged and afective VA. The study provides valuable insights for improving the VA's behavioral design as a team member for collaborative tasks.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9798400703300
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024 May 11
Event2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems, CHI 2024 - Hybrid, Honolulu, United States
Duration: 2024 May 112024 May 16

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems, CHI 2024
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHybrid, Honolulu
Period24/5/1124/5/16

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Copyright held by the owner/author(s)

Keywords

  • Afective computing
  • Emotional suppression
  • Engagement
  • Group decision-making
  • Virtual agent

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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