How voice and helpfulness shape perceptions in human–agent teams
Voice assistants are increasingly prevalent, from personal devices to team environments. This study explores how voice type and contribution quality influence human–agent team performance and perceptions of anthropomorphism, animacy, intelligence, and trustworthiness. By manipulating both, we reveal...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-08-01
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| Series: | Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949882124000616 |
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| _version_ | 1846141655000809472 |
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| author | Samuel Westby Richard J. Radke Christoph Riedl Brooke Foucault Welles |
| author_facet | Samuel Westby Richard J. Radke Christoph Riedl Brooke Foucault Welles |
| author_sort | Samuel Westby |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Voice assistants are increasingly prevalent, from personal devices to team environments. This study explores how voice type and contribution quality influence human–agent team performance and perceptions of anthropomorphism, animacy, intelligence, and trustworthiness. By manipulating both, we reveal mechanisms of perception and clarify ambiguity in previous work. Our results show that the human resemblance of a voice assistant’s voice negatively interacts with the helpfulness of an agent’s contribution to flip its effect on perceived anthropomorphism and perceived animacy. This means human teammates interpret the agent’s contributions differently depending on its voice. Our study found no significant effect of voice on perceived intelligence, trustworthiness, or team performance. We find differences in these measures are caused by manipulating the helpfulness of an agent. These findings suggest that function matters more than form when designing agents for high-performing human–agent teams, but controlling perceptions of anthropomorphism and animacy can be unpredictable even with high human resemblance. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-23e6b009155a4e0790c1d9c6ca9a725d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2949-8821 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-08-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans |
| spelling | doaj-art-23e6b009155a4e0790c1d9c6ca9a725d2024-12-04T05:15:07ZengElsevierComputers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans2949-88212024-08-0122100101How voice and helpfulness shape perceptions in human–agent teamsSamuel Westby0Richard J. Radke1Christoph Riedl2Brooke Foucault Welles3Northeastern University, 117 Huntington Ave #1010, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Corresponding author.Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY, 12180, USANortheastern University, 117 Huntington Ave #1010, Boston, MA 02115, USANortheastern University, 117 Huntington Ave #1010, Boston, MA 02115, USAVoice assistants are increasingly prevalent, from personal devices to team environments. This study explores how voice type and contribution quality influence human–agent team performance and perceptions of anthropomorphism, animacy, intelligence, and trustworthiness. By manipulating both, we reveal mechanisms of perception and clarify ambiguity in previous work. Our results show that the human resemblance of a voice assistant’s voice negatively interacts with the helpfulness of an agent’s contribution to flip its effect on perceived anthropomorphism and perceived animacy. This means human teammates interpret the agent’s contributions differently depending on its voice. Our study found no significant effect of voice on perceived intelligence, trustworthiness, or team performance. We find differences in these measures are caused by manipulating the helpfulness of an agent. These findings suggest that function matters more than form when designing agents for high-performing human–agent teams, but controlling perceptions of anthropomorphism and animacy can be unpredictable even with high human resemblance.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949882124000616Human–agent interactionHuman–agent teamsAnthropomorphismPerceptionVoice assistants |
| spellingShingle | Samuel Westby Richard J. Radke Christoph Riedl Brooke Foucault Welles How voice and helpfulness shape perceptions in human–agent teams Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans Human–agent interaction Human–agent teams Anthropomorphism Perception Voice assistants |
| title | How voice and helpfulness shape perceptions in human–agent teams |
| title_full | How voice and helpfulness shape perceptions in human–agent teams |
| title_fullStr | How voice and helpfulness shape perceptions in human–agent teams |
| title_full_unstemmed | How voice and helpfulness shape perceptions in human–agent teams |
| title_short | How voice and helpfulness shape perceptions in human–agent teams |
| title_sort | how voice and helpfulness shape perceptions in human agent teams |
| topic | Human–agent interaction Human–agent teams Anthropomorphism Perception Voice assistants |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949882124000616 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT samuelwestby howvoiceandhelpfulnessshapeperceptionsinhumanagentteams AT richardjradke howvoiceandhelpfulnessshapeperceptionsinhumanagentteams AT christophriedl howvoiceandhelpfulnessshapeperceptionsinhumanagentteams AT brookefoucaultwelles howvoiceandhelpfulnessshapeperceptionsinhumanagentteams |