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Can Computer Personalities be Human Personalities?

TitleCan Computer Personalities be Human Personalities?
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication1995
AuthorsNass C, Moon Y, Fogg B, Reeves B, Dryer C
Conference NameProceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 95)
Date PublishedMay
AbstractThe present study demonstrates that (1) computer personalities can be easily created using a minimal set of cues, and (2) that people will respond to these personalities in the same way they would respond to similar human personalities. The present study focuses on the similarity-attraction hypothesis,which predicts that people will prefer to interact with others who are similar in personality. In an experiment (N = 48), dominant and submissive subjects were randomly matched with either a dominant or submissive computer. When a computer was endowed with the properties associated with dominance or submissiveness, subjects recognized the computer's personality type along only that dimension. In addition, subjects not only preferred the similar computer, but they were more satisfied with the interaction. The findings demonstrate that personality does not require richly defined agents, sophisticated pictorial representations, natural language processing, or artificial intelligence. Rather, even the most superficial manipulations are sufficient to produce personality, with powerful effects.
Posted by mickwalters on Thursday, 19 February, 2009 /

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