Studying the Anthropomorphic Visual Cues in Conversational Agents

Abstract

With the increase of anthropomorphic conversational agents, the research on the effects of anthropomorphism in conversational agents is on the rise. However the studies cannot seem to agree on many of the raised questions and the research on the proper design of conversational agents is still lacking. This research paper attempted to contribute to filling this gap by analysing whether anthropomorphic visual cues used in conversational agents have an effect on the trust and satisfaction of the users. In particular, a between-subject experiment was performed, where the use of emojis and a profile image of four different levels of anthropomorphism were manipulated in a conversational agent based on Telegram. A total of 120 participants, split between eight experimental groups, had a conversation with the agent and filled in a survey about their experience. The results concluded that individual visual cues as well as combination of them did not have any significant effects on the trust and satisfaction of the users.