Is Alexa Happy or Angry? Perceptions and Attributions of Emotional Displays of Smart Technologies in Residential Homes

Abstract

Digital assistants such as Alexa can provide feedback to residents that affect energy consumption. One important characteristic of feedback refers to the emotionality of the provided feedback. Research on social cognition and attribution theory suggests that effects of emotional messages on behavior are contingent on the inferred cause of the emotion (e.g., why a message was said in a happy or neutral voice). As a prerequisite, to have the intended effects on energy saving behaviors, Alexa’s emotional messages have to trigger three basic social cognitions: (1) the emotional display has to be identified by residents; (2) residents have to correctly identify their behavior as a target of the emotional display; and (3) residents have to attribute the emotional display to that behavior. In two studies (N = 194 and N = 353), several conditions were identified that triggered these three basic social cognitions in a simulated environment.