1. Interface Characters Henriette van Vugt FEW and FSW VUBIS 10-05-05

3. Aim of the project

4. Typical characteristic: life-likeness, realism, epistemics

6. Experiment 1 Epistemics Valence Involvement Distance Task performance Control variables Aesthetics Relevance Similarity

7. Valence Epistemics Realistic vs Unrealistic vs Unembodied Manipulations experiment 1 Demonstration

8. b. R Squared =,528 (Adjusted R Squared =,503) c.

9. Preliminary conclusions Epistemics effects involvement, not distance Valence effects distance, not involvement Relevance and Aesthetics are important factors as well!

10. Task performance Mean Positive valence82 Negative valence75 F(1, 128) = 4.48, p <.036 Preliminary conclusion: Valence effects task performance, Epistemics does not

12. Experiment 2 Are the Engagement and Interaction process dependent on each other?

14. Aesthetics: ugly versus beautiful Affordances: aids versus obstacles Manipulations (pilot tests conduced soon)

15. Measures Involvement and distance Intentions to use and Intentions not to use Satisfaction Task performance

16. Publications 1. Van Vugt, H.C., Hoorn, J.F. and Konijn, E.A. (2004). Adapting empathic agents to user experiences. In proceedings of the workshop on ‘Empathic Agents’, AAMAS 2004, New York, 19-23 July. 2. Hoorn, J. F. and Van Vugt, H. C. (2004). The role of social norm in user-engagement and appreciation of the web interface agent Bonzi Buddy. In proceedings of the workshop on ‘Empathic Agents’, AAMAS 2004, New York, 19-23 July. 3. Hoorn, J. F., Eliëns, A., Huang, Z., Van Vugt, H. C., Konijn, E. A., & Visser, C. T. (2004).Agents with character: Evaluation of empathic agents in digital dossiers. In proceedings of the workshop on ‘Empathic Agents’, AAMAS 2004, New York, 19-23 July. 4. Van Vugt, H.C., Konijn, E.A., Hoorn, J.F., Eliëns, A. and Keur, I. (2005). Emotional Engagement with Embodied Agents. Presented as a poster on the Workshop on Emotion and Interaction. Paris, 10-11 March 2005. 5.Van Vugt, H.C. Hoorn, J.F. and Konijn, E.A. (2005). Digital bonding: Interactive and Affective Affordances of Agents. Accepted at the workshop on ‘Creating bonds with humanoids’, AAMAS 2005, 23-27 July 2005.

17. Questions?