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Social influence of humor in virtual human counselor's self‐disclosure
Author(s) -
Kang SinHwa,
Krum David M.,
Khooshabeh Peter,
Phan Thai,
Chang ChienYen,
Amir Ori,
Lin Rebecca
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
computer animation and virtual worlds
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.225
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1546-427X
pISSN - 1546-4261
DOI - 10.1002/cav.1763
Subject(s) - perception , virtual agent , ethnic group , virtual actor , computer science , matching (statistics) , self disclosure , applied psychology , psychology , human–computer interaction , virtual reality , social psychology , medicine , pathology , neuroscience , sociology , anthropology
We explored the social influence of humor in a virtual human counselor's self‐disclosure while also varying the ethnicity of the virtual counselor. In a 2 × 3 experiment (humor and ethnicity of the virtual human counselor), participants experienced counseling interview interactions via Skype on a smartphone. We measured user responses to and perceptions of the virtual human counselor. The results demonstrate that humor positively affects user responses to and perceptions of a virtual counselor. The results further suggest that matching styles of humor with a virtual counselor's ethnicity influences user responses and perceptions. The results offer insight into the effective design and development of realistic and believable virtual human counselors. Furthermore, they illuminate the potential use of humor to enhance self‐disclosure in human–agent interactions.