Humour Theory and Conversational Agents: An Application in the Development of Computer-based Agents

Meany, Michael; Clark, Tom

doi:10.18848/1447-9508/cgp/v08i05/42935

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…telling jokes, making hilarious gestures and providing funny responses) in interactions with consumers (Pabel and Pearce, 2018; Tay et al , 2016). Robotic sense of humor is considered a key variable (Tay et al , 2016) in ensuring that robots are regarded as true social actors (Meany and Clark, 2010). Studies have indicated that when a social robot can appropriately exhibit a sense of humor, it can positively contribute to an individual’s assessment of the robot’s appeal, overall interaction enjoyment (Niculescu et al , 2013) and social attractiveness of robots (Tay et al , 2016).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of anthropomorphic features of artificially intelligent service robots on consumer acceptance: moderating role of sense of humor

Zhang

Gürsoy

Zhu

et al. 2021

IJCHM

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Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of both physical and personality-related anthropomorphic features of an artificial intelligence service robot on the cognitive and affective appraisals and acceptance of consumers during service delivery. Design/methodology/approach The proposed hypotheses that investigate the effects of service robots’ physical appearance on the emphasis consumers place on each evaluation criteria they use in determining their willingness to accept the use of service robots in service delivery and the moderating role of sense of humor are tested by conducting two studies using scenario-based experiments. Findings The results show that humanlike appearance leads to higher performance expectancy, mascot-like appearance generates higher positive emotions and machine-like appearance results in higher effort expectancy. The effects of humanlike and mascot-like appearances on consumer acceptance are moderated by the sense of humor of service robots. However, the sense of humor effect is attenuated with a machine-like appearance owing to the lack of anthropomorphism. Practical implications This study provides crucial insights for hospitality managers who plan to use service robots in service delivery. The findings highlight the key roles of appearance type and sense of humor of service robots in influencing the appraisals and acceptance of consumers regarding the use of service robots in service delivery. Originality/value This study focuses on comparing the effects of traditional and mascot-like appearances of service robots on consumer appraisals and identifies sense of humor as a cute anthropomorphized personality trait of service robots.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of anthropomorphic features of artificially intelligent service robots on consumer acceptance: moderating role of sense of humor

Zhang

Gürsoy

Zhu

et al. 2021

IJCHM

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“…Researchers so far have explored using a dialogue‐based interaction (Hildebrand & Bergner, 2021), casual, informal language (Araujo, 2018; De Cicco et al, 2021), making and/or correcting communication errors (Sheehan et al, 2020; Toader et al, 2020), a typing cue and intentional delay in response (Schanke et al, 2021; Toader et al, 2020), human name (Araujo, 2018) or gender (Toader et al, 2020), and a humanoid graphic character (Mimoun et al, 2017) as factors of chatbots that can enhance customers' perceptions of anthropomorphism. However, there is very little empirical investigation that considers a chatbot's use of humour as an anthropomorphic cue (Meany & Clark, 2010; Thomaz et al, 2020) and its potential impact on consumer‐related service outcomes, despite technical improvements for integrating humour into chatbot interactions (Braslavski et al, 2018; Grudin & Jacques, 2019; Zhou et al, 2020).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst previous studies examined various design cues that assist in humanizing chatbots, such as language style, name, gender, profile image of the agent, typing indicators, and intentional delays (e.g., Araujo, 2018;Sheehan et al, 2020;Toader et al, 2020), little is known about the role of chatbot humour (Meany & Clark, 2010;Thomaz et al, 2020), especially in relation to consumer-related service outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers have found the benefits of AI chatbots that are perceived as more human‐like to be more sociable (De Cicco et al, 2021) and trustworthy (Følstad et al, 2018; Söderlund & Oikarinen, 2021), ultimately driving more positive consumer responses towards the firm. Whilst previous studies examined various design cues that assist in humanizing chatbots, such as language style, name, gender, profile image of the agent, typing indicators, and intentional delays (e.g., Araujo, 2018; Sheehan et al, 2020; Toader et al, 2020), little is known about the role of chatbot humour (Meany & Clark, 2010; Thomaz et al, 2020), especially in relation to consumer‐related service outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The influence of chatbot humour on consumer evaluations of services

Shin

Bunosso

Levine

2022

Int J Consumer Studies

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Technological advances have enabled firms to automate customer service by employing artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots. Despite their many potential benefits, interactions with chatbots may still feel machine‐like and cold. The current study proposes the use of humour by chatbots as a gateway to humanizing them and thereby enhancing the customer experience. Across three experimental studies, the results reveal that (i) the use of humour enhances service satisfaction when it is used by a chatbot but not when it is used by a human agent, (ii) this chatbot humour effect is serially mediated by enhanced perceptions of anthropomorphism and interestingness of the interactions with the chatbot, and (iii) whilst both positively and negatively valenced chatbot humour may enhance the interestingness of the interactions, socially appropriate (i.e., affiliative) humour as opposed to inappropriate (i.e., aggressive) humour leads to enhanced service satisfaction. This study extends the understanding of the humanization processes of chatbots and provides guidelines for how firms should use chatbot humour to positively influence consumers' service satisfaction.

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“…Beyond these commercial solutions, further research has been performed regarding human-computer interaction approaches that enrich chatbots with social characteristics in order to cope with frustration and dissatisfaction [18]. The human factor in this type of interaction is not negligible, given the differences in perception [19] and emotional state [20] that can lead to entirely different paradigms for designing a conversational agent and evaluating it [21]. Moreover, despite the increasingly strict regulations in the matter of personal data usage [22], the services mentioned above often collide with required confidentiality and privacy restrictions (especially for health-related programs [23]).…”

Section: Hmi and Chatbotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

EREBOTS: Privacy-Compliant Agent-Based Platform for Multi-Scenario Personalized Health-Assistant Chatbots

et al. 2021

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Context. Asynchronous messaging is increasingly used to support human–machine interactions, generally implemented through chatbots. Such virtual entities assist the users in activities of different kinds (e.g., work, leisure, and health-related) and are becoming ingrained into humans’ habits due to factors including (i) the availability of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, (ii) the increasingly engaging nature of chatbot interactions, (iii) the release of dedicated APIs from messaging platforms, and (iv) increasingly complex AI-based mechanisms to power the bots’ behaviors. Nevertheless, most of the modern chatbots rely on state machines (implementing conversational rules) and one-fits-all approaches, neglecting personalization, data-stream privacy management, multi-topic management/interconnection, and multimodal interactions. Objective. This work addresses the challenges above through an agent-based framework for chatbot development named EREBOTS. Methods. The foundations of the framework are based on the implementation of (i) multi-front-end connectors and interfaces (i.e., Telegram, dedicated App, and web interface), (ii) enabling the configuration of multi-scenario behaviors (i.e., preventive physical conditioning, smoking cessation, and support for breast-cancer survivors), (iii) online learning, (iv) personalized conversations and recommendations (i.e., mood boost, anti-craving persuasion, and balance-preserving physical exercises), and (v) responsive multi-device monitoring interface (i.e., doctor and admin). Results. EREBOTS has been tested in the context of physical balance preservation in social confinement times (due to the ongoing pandemic). Thirteen individuals characterized by diverse age, gender, and country distribution have actively participated in the experimentation, reporting advancements in the physical balance and overall satisfaction of the interaction and exercises’ variety they have been proposed.

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Humour Theory and Conversational Agents: An Application in the Development of Computer-based Agents

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Impact of anthropomorphic features of artificially intelligent service robots on consumer acceptance: moderating role of sense of humor

Impact of anthropomorphic features of artificially intelligent service robots on consumer acceptance: moderating role of sense of humor

The influence of chatbot humour on consumer evaluations of services

EREBOTS: Privacy-Compliant Agent-Based Platform for Multi-Scenario Personalized Health-Assistant Chatbots

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