Comparing Behavior Towards Humans and Virtual Humans in a Social Dilemma

Abstract

The difference of shown social behavior towards virtual humans and real humans has been subject to much research. Many of these studies compare virtual humans (VH) that are presented as either virtual agents controlled by a computer or as avatars controlled by real humans. In this study we directly compare VHs with real humans. Participants played an economic game against a computer-controlled VH or a visible human opponent. Decisions made throughout the game were logged, additionally participants faces were filmed during the study and analyzed with expression recognition software. The analysis of choices showed participants are far more willing to violate social norms with VHs: they are more willing to steal and less willing to forgive. Facial expressions show trends that suggest they are treating VHs less socially. The results highlight, that even in impoverished social interactions, VHs have a long way to go before they can evoke truly human-like responses.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1158290

Entities

People

  • Gale M. Lucas
  • Giota Stratou
  • Jonathan Gratch
  • Rens Hoegen

Organizations

  • University of Southern California

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Automatic
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Cooperation
  • Customer Services
  • Equations
  • Human Behavior
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Human-Machine Interaction
  • Markov Chains
  • Observation
  • Prisoners
  • Probability
  • Recognition
  • Robotics
  • Social Norms
  • Virtual Reality
  • Web Browsers

Readers

  • Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Data Science/Digital Signal Processing.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.