First Impressions Count! The Role of the Human’s Emotional State on Rapport Established with an Empathic versus Neutral Virtual Therapist

Richards, D; Ranjbartabar, H; Bilgin, A; Kutay, C

First Impressions Count! The Role of the Human’s Emotional State on Rapport Established with an Empathic versus Neutral Virtual Therapist

Richards, D Ranjbartabar, H Bilgin, A Kutay, C

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Publisher:: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, 2021, 12, (3), pp. 1-3
Issue Date:: 2021

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Richards, D
dc.contributor.author	Ranjbartabar, H
dc.contributor.author	Bilgin, A
dc.contributor.author	Kutay, C https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6682-979X
dc.date.accessioned	2022-04-27T03:54:34Z
dc.date.available	2022-04-27T03:54:34Z
dc.date.issued	2021
dc.identifier.citation	IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, 2021, 12, (3), pp. 1-3
dc.identifier.issn	1949-3045
dc.identifier.issn	1949-3045
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/156648
dc.description.abstract	Intelligent virtual agents are being endowed with empathic behaviours to perform roles such as virtual therapists. Studies often evaluate the level of rapport established, but do not measure the therapeutic benefit and the relative advantage of empathic versus neutral behaviours. We have created two virtual (empathic/neutral) therapists. Our experiment with 63 participants consisted of one within-subjects (empathic/neutral) and one between-subjects (order) factors. Regardless of the virtual therapist used, improvements in baseline emotion were reported after the first interaction (time one) and further improvement after the second interaction (time two). Our study reveals that if the human initially expresses strong emotional feeling for a problem they are facing, rapport will be higher for the empathic therapist and the level of rapport established at the first meeting will persist regardless of whether the second encounter used empathic or neutral dialogue. Conversely, participants experiencing low emotional feeling reported greater rapport with the neutral therapist, and that level of rapport persisted in the second encounter with the alternative therapist. This study shows that an empathic agent will not necessarily build more rapport or deliver better emotional outcomes than a neutral agent. Further studies are needed to determine when tailoring and complex behaviours are justified.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
dc.relation.ispartof	IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1109/TAFFC.2019.2899305
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, 0806 Information Systems, 1702 Cognitive Sciences
dc.title	First Impressions Count! The Role of the Human’s Emotional State on Rapport Established with an Empathic versus Neutral Virtual Therapist
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	12
utslib.for	0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
utslib.for	0806 Information Systems
utslib.for	1702 Cognitive Sciences
utslib.for	0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
utslib.for	0806 Information Systems
utslib.for	1702 Cognitive Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Professional Practice and Leadership
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2022-04-27T03:54:32Z
pubs.issue	3
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	12
utslib.citation.issue	3

Abstract:

Intelligent virtual agents are being endowed with empathic behaviours to perform roles such as virtual therapists. Studies often evaluate the level of rapport established, but do not measure the therapeutic benefit and the relative advantage of empathic versus neutral behaviours. We have created two virtual (empathic/neutral) therapists. Our experiment with 63 participants consisted of one within-subjects (empathic/neutral) and one between-subjects (order) factors. Regardless of the virtual therapist used, improvements in baseline emotion were reported after the first interaction (time one) and further improvement after the second interaction (time two). Our study reveals that if the human initially expresses strong emotional feeling for a problem they are facing, rapport will be higher for the empathic therapist and the level of rapport established at the first meeting will persist regardless of whether the second encounter used empathic or neutral dialogue. Conversely, participants experiencing low emotional feeling reported greater rapport with the neutral therapist, and that level of rapport persisted in the second encounter with the alternative therapist. This study shows that an empathic agent will not necessarily build more rapport or deliver better emotional outcomes than a neutral agent. Further studies are needed to determine when tailoring and complex behaviours are justified.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/156648