Sending an Avatar to Do a Human's Job: Compliance with Authority Persists Despite the Uncanny Valley

Abstract

Just as physical appearance affects social influence in human communication, it may also affect the processing of advice conveyed through avatars, computer-animated characters, and other human-like interfaces. Although the most persuasive computer interfaces are often the most human-like, they have been predicted to incur the greatest risk of falling into the uncanny valley, the loss of empathy attributed to characters that appear eerily human. Previous studies compared interfaces on the left side of the uncanny valley, namely, those with low human likeness. To examine interfaces with higher human realism, a between-groups factorial experiment was conducted through the internet with 426 midwestern U.S. undergraduates. This experiment presented a hypothetical ethical dilemma followed by the advice of an authority figure. The authority was manipulated in three ways: depiction (digitally recorded or computer animated), motion quality (smooth or jerky), and advice (disclose or refrain from disclosing sensitive information). Of these, only the advice changed opinion about the ethical dilemma, even though the animated depiction was significantly eerier than the human depiction. These results indicate that compliance with an authority persists even when using an uncannily realistic computeranimated double.

The doctor’s digital double: how warmth, competence, and animation promote adherence intention

“…We would expect inconsistent realism and eeriness to have the opposite effect. Nevertheless, Patel & MacDorman (2015) found that although an animated character was more eerie, less attractive, and less human than its real counterpart, it did not reduce the intention to comply with advice. Based on the assumption that flaws in realism cause negative affective evaluations, namely, eeriness that decreases source credibility, we hypothesized that (H3) a high-realism source will be more persuasive than a low-realism source.…”

“…The affective lip and eyebrow movements were precisely synchronized to the video by hand but appeared less emphatic. The same computer model had been used in a different scenario and found to be significantly more eerie than the real actor (Patel & MacDorman, 2015).…”

“…Despite their differences, a virtual human could be as persuasive as a real human (Patel & MacDorman, 2015;Zanbaka, Goolkasian & Hodges, 2006)-or even more persuasive (Bickmore, Pfeifer & Paasche-Orlow, 2009). However, Raij et al (2007) found that a virtual patient induced less empathy and rapport-building and worse attitudes in doctors than a real patient.…”

“…However, Raij et al (2007) found that a virtual patient induced less empathy and rapport-building and worse attitudes in doctors than a real patient. Although these studies investigated the effect of realism on persuasion, only one employed an experimentally controlled stimulus, that is, a digital double (Patel & MacDorman, 2015). Moreover, the ways in which warmth, competence, realism, and eeriness together affect adherence intention in a hypothetical virtual consultation have not been investigated.…”

Now you feel it, now you don’t

“…Most importantly, by delineating different aspects of discomfort scientists may ultimately be able to predict which aspect(s) compromise(s) people's willingness to engage with or accept robots (Ho & MacDorman, 2010;Patel & MacDorman, 2015).…”