The present study draws on theories of attribution, social comparison, and social facilitation to... more The present study draws on theories of attribution, social comparison, and social facilitation to investigate how computers might use principles of motivation and persuasion to provide user feedback. In an online experiment, 192 participants performed a speed-reading task. The independent variables included whether or not the verbal feedback from the computer involved praise, whether the objective feedback showed that the participants were performing better or worse from their peers, and whether or not the feedback was presented by an on-screen agent. The main dependent variables included a subjective measure of participants' intrinsic motivation and an objective measure of their task persistence. Results showed that providing participants with praise or comparative information on others' performance improved intrinsic motivation. When praised, participants whose performances were comparatively low persisted in the task longer than those whose performances were comparatively high did. Additionally, the mere presence of an embodied agent on the screen increased participants' motivation. Together, these results indicate that praise and social comparison can serve as effective forms of motivational feedback and that humanlike embodiment further improves user motivation.
To seamlessly integrate into the human physical and social environment, robots must display appro... more To seamlessly integrate into the human physical and social environment, robots must display appropriate proxemic behavior-that is, follow societal norms in establishing their physical and psychological distancing with people. Socialscientific theories suggest competing models of human proxemic behavior, but all conclude that individuals' proxemic behavior is shaped by the proxemic behavior of others and the individual's psychological closeness to them. The present study explores whether these models can also explain how people physically and psychologically distance themselves from robots and suggest guidelines for future design of proxemic behaviors for robots. In a controlled laboratory experiment, participants interacted with Wakamaru to perform two tasks that examined physical and psychological distancing of the participants. We manipulated the likeability (likeable/dislikeable) and gaze behavior (mutual gaze/averted gaze) of the robot. Our results on physical distancing showed that participants who disliked the robot compensated for the increase in the robot's gaze by maintaining a greater physical distance from the robot, while participants who liked the robot did not differ in their distancing from the robot across gaze conditions. The results on psychological distancing suggest that those who disliked the robot also disclosed less to the robot. Our results offer guidelines for the design of appropriate proxemic behaviors for robots so as to facilitate effective human-robot interaction.
The present study draws on theories of attribution, social comparison, and social facilitation to... more The present study draws on theories of attribution, social comparison, and social facilitation to investigate how computers might use principles of motivation and persuasion to provide user feedback. In an online experiment, 192 participants performed a speed-reading task. The independent variables included whether or not the verbal feedback from the computer involved praise, whether the objective feedback showed that the participants were performing better or worse from their peers, and whether or not the feedback was presented by an on-screen agent. The main dependent variables included a subjective measure of participants' intrinsic motivation and an objective measure of their task persistence. Results showed that providing participants with praise or comparative information on others' performance improved intrinsic motivation. When praised, participants whose performances were comparatively low persisted in the task longer than those whose performances were comparatively high did. Additionally, the mere presence of an embodied agent on the screen increased participants' motivation. Together, these results indicate that praise and social comparison can serve as effective forms of motivational feedback and that humanlike embodiment further improves user motivation.
To seamlessly integrate into the human physical and social environment, robots must display appro... more To seamlessly integrate into the human physical and social environment, robots must display appropriate proxemic behavior-that is, follow societal norms in establishing their physical and psychological distancing with people. Socialscientific theories suggest competing models of human proxemic behavior, but all conclude that individuals' proxemic behavior is shaped by the proxemic behavior of others and the individual's psychological closeness to them. The present study explores whether these models can also explain how people physically and psychologically distance themselves from robots and suggest guidelines for future design of proxemic behaviors for robots. In a controlled laboratory experiment, participants interacted with Wakamaru to perform two tasks that examined physical and psychological distancing of the participants. We manipulated the likeability (likeable/dislikeable) and gaze behavior (mutual gaze/averted gaze) of the robot. Our results on physical distancing showed that participants who disliked the robot compensated for the increase in the robot's gaze by maintaining a greater physical distance from the robot, while participants who liked the robot did not differ in their distancing from the robot across gaze conditions. The results on psychological distancing suggest that those who disliked the robot also disclosed less to the robot. Our results offer guidelines for the design of appropriate proxemic behaviors for robots so as to facilitate effective human-robot interaction.
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Papers by Jonathan Mumm