Grouping Situations Based on their Psychological Characteristics Gives Insight into Personal Values

Abstract

Support agents are investigated more and more as a way of assisting people in carrying out daily tasks. Support agents should be flexible in adapting their support to what their user needs. Research suggests that the situation someone is in affects their behaviour, however its effect has not been incorporated in the decision making of support agents. Modelling the characteristics of situations explicitly and studying their effect on internal perceptions of the user, such as their personal values, would enable support agents to provide more personalized support. We propose a method which groups situations according to their psychological characteristics, and in turn determines which personal values of the user would be promoted or demoted in each group of situations. To do this, we conduct a user study to gather data from participants about situations that they encounter in their daily lives. Results show that the created groups of situations significantly promote or demote certain personal values. This approach can allow support agents to help the user in a way which is in line with their personal values.