A Bot and a Smile: Interpersonal Impressions of Chatbots and Humans Using Emoji in Computer-mediated Communication

Abstract

Artificially intelligent (AI) agents increasingly occupy roles once served by humans in computer-mediated communication (CMC). Technological affordances like emoji give interactants (humans or bots) the ability to partially overcome the limited nonverbal information in CMC. However, despite the growth of chatbots as conversational partners, few CMC and human-machine communication (HMC) studies have explored how bots' use of emoji impact perceptions of communicator quality. This study examined the relationship between emoji use and observers' impressions of interpersonal attractiveness, CMC competence, and source credibility; and whether impressions formed of human versus chatbot message sources were different. Results demonstrated that participants rated emoji-using chatbot message sources similarly to human message sources, and both humans and bots are significantly more socially attractive, CMC competent, and credible when compared to verbal-only message senders. Results are discussed with respect to the CASA paradigm and the human-to-human interaction script framework.

The Use of Chatbots in Digital Business Transformation: A Systematic Literature Review

“…In most cases, the structure of the research sample was diverse. Students were used as participants in case of 11 papers [11], [31], [32], [51] - [58]. For many research studies, the participants resided in various countries, or the details of their residence were not disclosed.…”

“…Examples include studies about chatbot gender perceptions [59], attitudes towards warm versus competent chatbots [32], discomfort when using chatbots and comparing reactions to a simple and animated avatar chatbot [60]. The studies that are centred around communication (eight studies) focus on analysing chatbot communication from various perspectives, comparing various means of communication, the use of emojis [11] or properties that make chatbots more human (anthropomorphism) - [27], [52], [61]. Customer service was at the centre of seven studies.…”

“…The communication between online users and organisations is shifting towards interactions with AI-driven systems [10]. A chatbot is one example of technology that is used in computer-mediated communication where AI agents increasingly occupy roles once served by humans [11]. Not all chatbots are developed as Machine Learning (ML) or AI driven chatbots [12], but the advantage of deploying AI driven chatbots is that they give the impression of being intelligent as they get smarter with increased data and user interactions [13].…”

Mobile Mediated Communication: Emoji Usage and Play Frame

“…And experimental variables could be gender, age or mediated platform. As for theme, personality assessment [6] and interpersonal relationship [7] could be conducted via "emoji identity". Sentiment analysis accounts for the majority though statistical deviation seems to be unavoidable.…”

Emotional Reactions and Likelihood of Response to Questions Designed for a Mental Health Chatbot Among Adolescents: Experimental Study

“…A chatbot’s language and the use of graphics such as GIFs are only a few factors to consider when designing such technologies. Emojis, GIFs, and similar media can play a crucial role in determining the framework, sense, and direction of the conversation [ 25 ], and may also increase the social attractiveness and credibility of a chatbot [ 30 ].…”