Tackling the Scaffolding Paradox: A Person-Centered Adaptive Robotic Interview Coach

TL;DR

This study develops an adaptive robotic interview coach based on Person-Centered Therapy and scaffolding theory, demonstrating how user-controlled feedback can reduce anxiety and improve the interview training experience.

Contribution

It introduces an Agency-Driven Interaction Mode that enhances user control, addressing the scaffolding paradox in robot-mediated interview coaching.

Findings

Significant reduction in interview anxiety levels.

User control improves perceived trust and reduces cognitive overload.

Adaptive feedback strategies balance support and guidance effectively.

Abstract

Job interview anxiety is a prevalent challenge among university students and can undermine both performance and confidence in high-stakes evaluative situations. Social robots have shown promise in reducing anxiety through emotional support, yet how such systems should balance psychological safety with effective instructional guidance remains an open question. In this work, we present a three-phase iterative design study of a robotic interview coach grounded in Person-Centered Therapy (PCT) and instructional scaffolding theory. Across three weekly sessions (N=8), we systematically explored how different interaction strategies shape users' emotional experience, cognitive load, and perceived utility. Phase I demonstrated that a PCT-based robot substantially increased perceived psychological safety but introduced a Safety-Guidance Gap, in which users felt supported yet insufficiently coached. Phase II revealed a Scaffolding Paradox: immediate feedback improved clarity but disrupted conversational flow and increased cognitive load, whereas delayed feedback preserved realism but lacked actionable specificity. To resolve this tension, Phase III introduced an Agency-Driven Interaction Mode that allowed users to opt in to feedback dynamically. Qualitative findings indicated that user control acted as an anxiety buffer, restoring trust, reducing overload, and reframing the interaction as collaborative rather than evaluative. Quantitative measures further showed significant reductions in interview-related social and communication anxiety, while maintaining high perceived warmth and therapeutic alliance. We synthesize these findings into an Adaptive Scaffolding Ecosystem framework, highlighting user agency as a key mechanism for balancing emotional support and instructional guidance in social robot coaching systems.