CORAE: A Tool for Intuitive and Continuous Retrospective Evaluation of Interactions

TL;DR

CORAE is an open-source web tool for continuous, intuitive evaluation of social interactions, capturing approach and withdrawal dynamics to better understand emotional and interpersonal perceptions over time.

Contribution

The paper introduces CORAE, a novel tool that enables continuous affect evaluation based on approach and withdrawal, advancing affective computing in social interaction analysis.

Findings

The tool effectively captures dynamic interpersonal perceptions.

Continuous ratings align with overall interaction perceptions.

Validated with 24 participants in dyadic negotiation scenarios.

Abstract

This paper introduces CORAE, a novel web-based open-source tool for COntinuous Retrospective Affect Evaluation, designed to capture continuous affect data about interpersonal perceptions in dyadic interactions. Grounded in behavioral ecology perspectives of emotion, this approach replaces valence as the relevant rating dimension with approach and withdrawal, reflecting the degree to which behavior is perceived as increasing or decreasing social distance. We conducted a study to experimentally validate the efficacy of our platform with 24 participants. The tool's effectiveness was tested in the context of dyadic negotiation, revealing insights about how interpersonal dynamics evolve over time. We find that the continuous affect rating method is consistent with individuals' perception of the overall interaction. This paper contributes to the growing body of research on affective computing and offers a valuable tool for researchers interested in investigating the temporal dynamics of affect and emotion in social interactions.