Engaged and Affective Virtual Agents: Their Impact on Social Presence, Trustworthiness, and Decision-Making in the Group Discussion

TL;DR

This study explores how virtual agents' engagement and affective behaviors influence group discussion dynamics, social perception, and decision quality, highlighting the importance of behavioral design for effective collaboration.

Contribution

It demonstrates that engagement enhances attention and group synergy, while affective behavior can diminish social presence and trustworthiness in virtual agents.

Findings

Engaged VAs improve group discussion and consensus.

Affective VAs reduce perceived social presence and trust.

Participants prefer engaged, non-affective VAs for collaboration.

Abstract

This study investigates how different virtual agent (VA) behaviors influence subjects' perceptions and group decision-making. Participants carried out experimental group discussions with a VA exhibiting varying levels of engagement and affective behavior. Engagement refers to the VA's focus on the group task, whereas affective behavior reflects the VA's emotional state. The findings revealed that VA's engagements effectively captured participants' attention even in the group setting and enhanced group synergy, thereby facilitating more in-depth discussion and producing better consensus. On the other hand, VA's affective behavior negatively affected the perceived social presence and trustworthiness. Consequently, in the context of group discussion, participants preferred the engaged and non-affective VA to the non-engaged and affective VA. The study provides valuable insights for improving the VA's behavioral design as a team member for collaborative tasks.