The Impact of Anthropomorphism on Chatbot Performance

Thierry Curiale, François Acquatella, Laetitia Gros, Mathilde Cosquer and Serge Tisseron
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Thierry Curiale: IERHR - Institut pour l'Etude des Relations Homme-Robots
François Acquatella: IAE Limoges - Ecole universitaire de management [Limoges]
Laetitia Gros: Orange Innovation
Mathilde Cosquer: Orange Innovation
Serge Tisseron: IERHR - Institut pour l'Etude des Relations Homme-Robots, CRPMS (URP_3522) - Centre de Recherches Psychanalyse, Médecine et Société - UPCité - Université Paris Cité

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Abstract: In this article, we look at the projective, psychological factors that determine interaction between humans and chatbots (or conversational agents). Our study lies at the intersection of cyberpsychology (the psychological phenomena emerging from human interaction with digital technology) and captology (persuasive technologies). These two disciplines take complementary approaches to chatbots. Whilst one looks at how use of these tools can affect the human mind, the other identifies the interactive conditions which can influence human attitudes and behaviours. Thus we ask which projective mechanisms can be leveraged to make captology more effective. A large quantitative survey (n=1019) was carried out using a selection of four types of chatbot. The majority of respondents projected content of an anthropomorphic nature onto their selected chatbot. Anthropomorphism makes an attachment to the machine possible, facilitating the mechanisms of persuasion and behavioural influence.Yet a majority of respondents did not identify the chatbot in their anthropomorphic projections, leading us to make an original psychoanalytic interpretation, which allows us to put the persuasive power of captology into perspective and, paradoxically, make ethics the vehicle for enhanced performance. Finally, we make recommendations to help conversational marketing and captology professionals improve the perception and acceptability of chatbots.

Keywords: Projective identification; Anthropomorphism; Cyberpsychology; Persuasive technologies; Chatbot (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-04-15
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://normandie-univ.hal.science/hal-05395836v1
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Published in Revue internationale de psychosociologie et de gestion des comportements organisationnels, 2022, XXVIII (72), pp.101 - 123. ⟨10.3917/rips1.072.0101⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05395836

DOI: 10.3917/rips1.072.0101

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