Embodied Agents and Social Computing Tim Bickmore A ffective C omputing G roup MIT Media Laboratory

Overview  Intellectual Framework  Embodied Conversational Agents  Etiquette  Relational Agents

Intellectual Framework  Study human face-to-face conversation  Not just as inspiration, but as model  The best (only?) examples we have to draw from.  Human social cognition is built to work this way.  Relevant Disciplines  Linguistics/Discourse/Sociolinguistics  Sociology/Ethnomethodology  Social Psychology  Discourse-inspired models of collaboration

Research Methodology  Study human-human interaction  Build computational models  Evaluate models

Empirical Studies: Posture Shifts Monologues (0.06/s)Dialogues (0.07/s) ps/sps/intenergyps/sps/intenergy Inter- dseg intra- dseg Posture shifts with respect to discourse segment

Empirical Studies: Handheld ECAs

LEARNING COMPANION Embodied Conversational Agents MACK BEAT SAM REA

What does this have to do with Etiquette?  Etiquette is about upholding a tacit “social contract” in interaction  Following the rules governing face-to-face interaction is an important part of this contract  Gricean cooperativeness  Goffman’s “face”  Turn-taking, etc.  But, these are relatively static with respect to roles and relationships.

Etiquette  How do people negotiate changing roles?  How do people negotiate changing relationships?  How can our computers do these things?

Relational Agents  Computational artifacts designed to build and maintain long-term, social-emotional relationships with their users.

Motivating Example

Motivation  How do people benefit from social relationships?  Direct benefits  Instrumental, emotional, social support  Indirect benefits  Persuasion (e.g., sales)  Education (e.g., peer collaboration)  Health & Well-being  Helping (e.g., psychotherapy, behavior change)

Small Talk and Trust  Real Estate Sales Agent ECA  Modeled initial buyer/agent interview  Hypothesis:  Small talk leads to increased trust in agent TRUST TASKSOCIAL INTRO EXTRO

Working Alliance and Behavior Change  Working alliance  A type of relationship  Measurable  Known mediating variable between relational activities and outcomes across a wide range of psychotherapeutic disciplines  Subscales:  Bond, Task, Goal

Application  Exercise Behavior Change  Relatively simple, brief duration  Several proven techniques exist that could be delivered by a software agent  Relevant to college subject population  Objectively measurable, real application  New guidelines are for daily exercise; gives subjects opportunity for daily interactions

Exercise Advisor

Relational Manipulations  “Kitchen Sink” approach  Small talk  Empathy exchanges (following Klein)  Talk about the relationship  Humor  Politeness & Forms of Address  Reciprocal self-disclosure  Continuity behaviors  Talking about past and future (requires memory)  Nonverbal immediacy behaviors

Nonverbal Behavior  Pre-compiled through BEAT RELATIONALNON-RELATIONAL ALL FRAMES +Gestures +Facial animation +Proximity +Gaze aways CONCERN HAPPY ENCOURAGE Concern face +Proximity Smile face +Proximity empathy small talk, greeting, farewell, humor, positive feedback encouragement

Experiment Wear pedometer Daily report of activity Daily interactions with agent IntakeInterventionFollowUp 7dRecall No contact with Ss Treatments: CONTROL / NON-RELATIONAL / RELATIONAL One-month intervention; one-month followup 100 Subjects 30 days Demographics Personality Stage of Change Self-Efficacy Decisional Balance System and agent evaluation Self-Efficacy Decisional Balance WAI

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