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Investigating Perceptions of Social Intelligence in Simulated Human-Chatbot Interactions

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Progresses in Artificial Intelligence and Neural Systems

Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 184))

Abstract

With the ongoing penetration of conversational user interfaces, a better understanding of social and emotional characteristic inherent to dialogue is required. Chatbots in particular face the challenge of conveying human-like behaviour while being restricted to one channel of interaction, i.e., text. The goal of the presented work is thus to investigate whether characteristics of social intelligence embedded in human-chatbot interactions are perceivable by human interlocutors and if yes, whether such influences the experienced interaction quality. Focusing on the social intelligence dimensions Authenticity, Clarity and Empathy, we first used a questionnaire survey evaluating the level of perception in text utterances, and then conducted a Wizard of Oz study to investigate the effects of these utterances in a more interactive setting. Results show that people have great difficulties perceiving elements of social intelligence in text. While on the one hand they find anthropomorphic behaviour pleasant and positive for the naturalness of a dialogue, they may also perceive it as frightening and unsuitable when expressed by an artificial agent in the wrong way or at the wrong time.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/18/facebook-messenger-hits-100000-bots/ (last accessed: March 11, 2019).

  2. 2.

    https://techcrunch.com/2015/09/29/forget-apps-now-the-bots-take-over/?guccounter=2 (last accessed: March 11, 2019).

  3. 3.

    Note: the complete list of German utterances and their English translations, incl. information on elements of SI which was given to students, is available here: https://tinyurl.com/y4zjd5cz.

  4. 4.

    Note: the post-scenario questionnaire and its English translation is available here: https://tinyurl.com/y4zjd5cz.

  5. 5.

    Note: the used interview guidelines and their English translations are available here: https://tinyurl.com/y4zjd5cz.

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Acknowledgments

The research presented in this paper has been supported by the project EMPATHIC that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 769872.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Communication & IT, MCI Management Center Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Natascha Mariacher & Stephan Schlögl

  2. Department of Digital Business & Software Engineering, MCI Management Center Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Alexander Monz

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  1. Natascha Mariacher
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  2. Stephan Schlögl
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  3. Alexander Monz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephan Schlögl .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Psicologia and IIASS, Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Caserta, Italy

    Anna Esposito

  2. FundaciĂł Tecnocampus, Pompeu Fabra University, MatarĂł, Barcelona, Spain

    Marcos Faundez-Zanuy

  3. Department of Civil, Environmental, Energy, and Material Engineering, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy

    Francesco Carlo Morabito

  4. Laboratorio di Neuronica, Dipartimento Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni , Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

    Eros Pasero

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Mariacher, N., Schlögl, S., Monz, A. (2021). Investigating Perceptions of Social Intelligence in Simulated Human-Chatbot Interactions. In: Esposito, A., Faundez-Zanuy, M., Morabito, F., Pasero, E. (eds) Progresses in Artificial Intelligence and Neural Systems. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 184. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5093-5_44

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