Empathy in Virtual Agents: How Emotional Expressions can Influence User Perception

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dc.contributor.authorRings, Sebastianen_US
dc.contributor.authorSchmidt, Susanneen_US
dc.contributor.authorJanßen, Juliaen_US
dc.contributor.authorLehmann-Willenbrock, Naleen_US
dc.contributor.authorSteinicke, Franken_US
dc.contributor.editorHasegawa, Shoichien_US
dc.contributor.editorSakata, Nobuchikaen_US
dc.contributor.editorSundstedt, Veronicaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-11-29T06:42:49Z
dc.date.available2024-11-29T06:42:49Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractWith advancements in natural language processing, intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) are increasingly integrated into various sectors like education, customer service, personal assistance, and healthcare. Medical counseling and digital therapy, fields that require trusting relationships between patient and practitioner, profit immensely from the use of IVAs. A key component of these social relationships is empathy, which helps build trust and understanding. This paper investigates whether simulated empathy through emotional expressions in IVAs can improve interactions and influence users' emotional contagion. Additionally, it explores the correlation between self-reported empathy and users' expressiveness. Participants alternate reading an emotional story with a virtual agent (VA) which mirrors the users' emotional expressions in one condition, while remaining neutral in the baseline condition. The results show that simulated emotions can animate participants to elicit more facial expressions in response to the VA's, while correlating with the users' self reported empathy.en_US
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dc.description.seriesinformationICAT-EGVE 2024 - International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence and Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments
dc.identifier.doi10.2312/egve.20241361
dc.identifier.isbn978-3-03868-245-5
dc.identifier.issn1727-530X
dc.identifier.pages11 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.2312/egve.20241361
dc.identifier.urihttps://diglib.eg.org/handle/10.2312/egve20241361
dc.publisherThe Eurographics Associationen_US
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International License
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectCCS Concepts: Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI); Collaborative interaction; User studies; Applied computing → Consumer health
dc.subjectHuman centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI)
dc.subjectCollaborative interaction
dc.subjectUser studies
dc.subjectApplied computing → Consumer health
dc.titleEmpathy in Virtual Agents: How Emotional Expressions can Influence User Perceptionen_US
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