Smiling and use of first-name by a healthcare receptionist robot: Effects on user perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours

Johanson, Deborah L.; Ahn, Ho Seok; Sutherland, Craig J.; Brown, Bianca; MacDonald, Bruce A.; Lim, Jong Yoon; Ahn, Byeong Kyu; Broadbent, Elizabeth

doi:10.1515/pjbr-2020-0008

Cited by 27 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…ref. [20,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69]); however, evidence is limited regarding how people's subjective perceptions of self-disclosure align with objective measures of self-disclosure. Here we evaluate both people's perceptions and their actual disclosures across three experiments.…”

Section: Subjective and Objective Disclosurementioning

confidence: 99%

Tell me more! Assessing interactions with social robots from speech

Laban

George

Morrison

et al. 2020

Paladyn, Journal of Behavioral Robotics

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As social robots are increasingly introduced into health interventions, one potential area where they might prove valuable is in supporting people’s psychological health through conversation. Given the importance of self-disclosure for psychological health, this study assessed the viability of using social robots for eliciting rich disclosures that identify needs and emotional states in human interaction partners. Three within-subject experiments were conducted with participants interacting with another person, a humanoid social robot, and a disembodied conversational agent (voice assistant). We performed a number of objective evaluations of disclosures to these three agents via speech content and voice analyses and also probed participants’ subjective evaluations of their disclosures to three agents. Our findings suggest that participants overall disclose more to humans than artificial agents, that agents’ embodiment influences disclosure quantity and quality, and that people are generally aware of differences in their personal disclosures to three agents studied here. Together, the findings set the stage for further investigation into the psychological underpinnings of self-disclosures to artificial agents and their potential role in eliciting disclosures as part of mental and physical health interventions.

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Section: Subjective and Objective Disclosurementioning

confidence: 99%

Tell me more! Assessing interactions with social robots from speech

Laban

George

Morrison

et al. 2020

Paladyn, Journal of Behavioral Robotics

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“…Rapport with Bella was measured using the 20-item Friendship Questionnaire developed by Johanson et al [ 53 ], with items adapted to suit a DH. It is comprised of items taken from multiple friendship scales, including the McGill Friendship Questionnaire, the McGill Friendship Questionnaire Functions scale, the Interactant Satisfaction Survey, and the Acquaintance Description Form-F2 [ 53 ]. Participants indicated their agreement with each item using a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 5 (“strongly agree”).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Digital Human for Delivering a Remote Loneliness and Stress Intervention to At-Risk Younger and Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Pilot Trial

Loveys¹,

Sagar²,

Pickering³

et al. 2021

JMIR Ment Health

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Background Loneliness is a growing public health issue that has been exacerbated in vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. Computer agents are capable of delivering psychological therapies through the internet; however, there is limited research on their acceptability to date. Objective The objectives of this study were to evaluate (1) the feasibility and acceptability of a remote loneliness and stress intervention with digital human delivery to at-risk adults and (2) the feasibility of the study methods in preparation for a randomized controlled trial. Methods A parallel randomized pilot trial with a mixed design was conducted. Participants were adults aged 18 to 69 years with an underlying medical condition or aged 70 years or older with a Mini-Mental State Examination score of >24 (ie, at greater risk of developing severe COVID-19). Participants took part from their place of residence (independent living retirement village, 20; community dwelling, 7; nursing home, 3). Participants were randomly allocated to the intervention or waitlist control group that received the intervention 1 week later. The intervention involved completing cognitive behavioral and positive psychology exercises with a digital human facilitator on a website for at least 15 minutes per day over 1 week. The exercises targeted loneliness, stress, and psychological well-being. Feasibility was evaluated using dropout rates and behavioral observation data. Acceptability was evaluated from behavioral engagement data, the Friendship Questionnaire (adapted), self-report items, and qualitative questions. Psychological measures were administered to evaluate the feasibility of the trial methods and included the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale, a 1-item COVID-19 distress measure, the Flourishing Scale, and the Scale of Positive and Negative Experiences. Results The study recruited 30 participants (15 per group). Participants were 22 older adults and 8 younger adults with a health condition. Six participants dropped out of the study. Thus, the data of 24 participants were analyzed (intervention group, 12; waitlist group, 12). The digital human intervention and trial methods were generally found to be feasible and acceptable in younger and older adults living independently, based on intervention completion, and behavioral, qualitative, and some self-report data. The intervention and trial methods were less feasible to nursing home residents who required caregiver assistance. Acceptability could be improved with additional content, tailoring to the population, and changes to the digital human’s design. Conclusions Digital humans are a promising and novel technological solution for providing at-risk adults with access to remote psychological support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research should further examine design techniques to improve their acceptability in this application and investiga...

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“…Social concepts like trust (e.g., [56,57,58,59]), attachment (e.g., [60]), empathy (e.g., [61]), acceptance (e.g., [57,62]), and disclosure (e.g., [42,63,64,65,66,67]) with social robots are being studied. In addition, the use of social robots is growing in complex social contexts such as those found in education (e.g., [58,59,68]), service (e.g., [69]), and care sectors (e.g., [70,71,72]).…”

Section: Interdisciplinary Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Makes a Robot Social? A Review of Social Robots from Fiction to a Home or Hospital Near You

Henschel¹,

Laban²,

Cross³

2020

Preprint

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Purpose of review: We provide an outlook on the definitions, laboratory research, and applications of social robots, with an aim to understand what makes a robot social – in the eyes of science and the general public. Recent Findings: Social robots demonstrate their potential when deployed within contexts appropriate to their form and functions. Some examples include companions for the elderly and cognitively impaired individuals, robots within educational settings, and as tools to support cognitive and behavioural change interventions. Summary: Science fiction has inspired us to conceive of a future with autonomous robots helping with every aspect of our daily lives, although the robots we are familiar with through film and literature remain a vision of the distant future. While there are still miles to go before robots become a regular feature within our social spaces, rapid progress in social robotics research, aided by the social sciences, is helping to move us closer to this reality.

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Smiling and use of first-name by a healthcare receptionist robot: Effects on user perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours

Cited by 27 publications

References 43 publications

Tell me more! Assessing interactions with social robots from speech

Tell me more! Assessing interactions with social robots from speech

A Digital Human for Delivering a Remote Loneliness and Stress Intervention to At-Risk Younger and Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Pilot Trial

What Makes a Robot Social? A Review of Social Robots from Fiction to a Home or Hospital Near You

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