In the current era, interacting with Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an everyday activity. Understanding the interaction between humans and AI is of potential value because, in future, such ...interactions are expected to become more pervasive. Two studies—one survey and one experiment—were conducted to demonstrate positive effects of anthropomorphism on interactions with smart-speaker-based AI assistants and to examine the mediating role of psychological distance in this relationship. The results of Study 1, an online survey, showed that participants with a higher tendency to anthropomorphize their AI assistant/s evaluated it/them more positively, and this effect was mediated by psychological distance. In Study 2, the hypotheses were tested in a more sophisticated experiment. Again, the results indicated that, in the high-anthropomorphism (vs. low-anthropomorphism) condition, participants had more positive attitudes toward the AI assistant, and the effect was mediated by psychological distance. Though several studies have demonstrated the effect of anthropomorphism, few have probed the underlying mechanism of anthropomorphism thoroughly. The current research not only contributes to the anthropomorphism literature, but also provides direction to research on facilitating human–AI interaction.
•Anthropomorphism has a positive effect on the evaluation of AI assistants.•Psychological distance plays a mediating role in this relationship.•Uncanny response does not correlate with anthropomorphism.
Sophisticated technology is increasingly replacing human minds to perform complicated tasks in domains ranging from medicine to education to transportation. We investigated an important theoretical ...determinant of people's willingness to trust such technology to perform competently—the extent to which a nonhuman agent is anthropomorphized with a humanlike mind—in a domain of practical importance, autonomous driving. Participants using a driving simulator drove either a normal car, an autonomous vehicle able to control steering and speed, or a comparable autonomous vehicle augmented with additional anthropomorphic features—name, gender, and voice. Behavioral, physiological, and self-report measures revealed that participants trusted that the vehicle would perform more competently as it acquired more anthropomorphic features. Technology appears better able to perform its intended design when it seems to have a humanlike mind. These results suggest meaningful consequences of humanizing technology, and also offer insights into the inverse process of objectifying humans.
•Anthropomorphism of a car predicts trust in that car.•Trust is reflected in behavioral, physiological, and self-report measures.•Anthropomorphism also affects attributions of responsibility/punishment.•These findings shed light on human interaction with autonomous vehicles.
Conversational agents are systems with human‐like features that can be deployed in service settings and are fast emerging as the future of online commerce. Considering the importance and ...proliferation of conversational commerce, it is opportune to take stock of the field's research from a bird's eye view to guide understanding of its current and future progress. In this regard, the goal of this study is to review the performance and intellectual structure of conversational commerce. To do so, this study conducts a comprehensive and systematic review of 722 publications on conversational commerce using the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews protocol and a collection of bibliometric analysis techniques consisting of performance analysis and science mapping (e.g., content analysis, keyword co‐occurrence analysis, and bibliographic coupling). In doing so, this study reveals the performance (e.g., publication and citation trends, and top sources, publications, and authors) and the major theories and themes in the intellectual structure of the field. The study concludes with a conceptual framework depicting the constructs (e.g., antecedents, mediators, moderators, consequences, and enablers) of employing conversational agents for commerce and service delivery, as well as suggestions for its future research.
Individuals are increasingly using Smart Voice Assistants (SVA) to derive functional, hedonic, and symbolic benefits. SVA adoption is in the nascent stage and we have little knowledge about what ...drives SVA usage. Following the ‘attitude shapes behavior’ approach, this study examines the role of hedonic and utilitarian attitudes on SVA usage and word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations. The study also investigates five antecedents (playfulness, escapism, anthropomorphism, visual appeal, and social presence) to both attitudes. Through an online survey of 360 respondents, the study suggests that playfulness and escapism positively influence hedonic attitude. On the other hand, anthropomorphism, visual appeal, and social presence determine utilitarian attitude. Further, utilitarian attitude has a stronger impact (vs. hedonic attitude) on SVA usage and WOM recommendations. The findings reveal that individuals who perceive SVA as a symbol of high prestige (vs. low prestige) are less likely to relate playfulness to hedonic gratifications. In contrast, people attributing prestige to SVA are more likely to use it as an escape route from everyday life. These findings contribute to the growing literature on SVA adoption and offer insightful recommendations to various stakeholders to increase the likelihood of SVA adoption and generating favorable WOM recommendations.
•Users derive functional and hedonic gratifications from SVA, which can influence their attitudes and SVA adoption.•Hedonic and utilitarian attitude positively influence SVA adoption and word-of-mouth recommendations.•Playfulness and escapism affect hedonic attitude.•Anthropomorphism, visual appeal, and social presence impact utilitarian attitudes.•People associate Prestige with SVA, which affects their perceptions of playfulness and escapism.
•Consumers respond more favorably to human service agents who use literal (vs. figurative) language.•The language style effects extend to service robots, but not to service kiosks based on the notion ...of anthropomorphism.•Perceived credibility is the psychological mechanism explaining the impact of language styles on service encounter satisfaction.•Hospitality managers should encourage frontline employees to use literal (vs. figurative) language when interacting with customers.•Furthermore, firms can enhance service encounter quality by tuning their service robots to use literal language, while flexibility in language styles is fine for service kiosks.
Is figurative or literal language more effective in the service encounter context? The current research reveals that literal language used by a service provider might be more congruent with conversational norms, thus leading to better customer evaluation. Most importantly, the effectiveness of language styles (literal vs. figurative) is contingent on a service agent type (human vs. robot vs. kiosk). Specifically, consumers respond more favorably to human service agents who use literal (vs. figurative) language, and due to the notion of anthropomorphism such an effect extends to service robots. However, the language style effect is not observed among service kiosks as they lack humanlike features. Furthermore, perceived credibility is the underlying mechanism explaining the language style effect among service agents.
The article explores the anthropomorphic metaphors that arise when describing a city and its components. Metaphor is one of the forms of cognition of the essence of a complex object or process. The ...city, as an object of knowledge, can be represented in many ways, one of which is a metaphor. Anthropomorphic metaphors are based on endowing the city with the properties of human morphology, physiology, and psychology. The author aims to identify, structure, and justify the use of anthropomorphic metaphors in various contexts. For this purpose, methods of terminological search and contextual analysis were used, thanks to which terms of urban discourse with anthropomorphic etymology were identified in the field of scientific information. The study established two main contexts of the anthropomorphism of the city: material and physiological and ideological and personal. Examples of metaphors are given and described. The material-physiological context includes metaphors that describe the city as a physical body with various parts and functions. In the ideological and personal context, the city is considered as a person with consciousness, emotions, and values. The author concludes that the use of anthropomorphic metaphors in urban discourse contributes to a better understanding and interpretation of urban processes. However, excessive use of such metaphors can lead to distortion of reality and the creation of false ideas about the city. In general, anthropomorphic metaphors are an important tool for exploring and describing a city, but they should be used with caution, taking the context into account. The use of such metaphors is useful in those communication formats when it is necessary to explain the essence of complex urban phenomena for non-professionals to understand.
Anthropomorphizing chatbots can facilitate effective customer interaction. Based on a mixed method, this study explores perceived chatbot anthropomorphism cues and their effects on customers' chatbot ...usage intentions (UIs)in the online travel agency context. Findings suggest that (1) social presence cues and emotional message cues are major anthropomorphic cues of interest for customers and enterprises; (2) social presence cues by simply using a human avatar or mentioning the customer's name might not be sufficient; (3) anthropomorphic emotional message cues are essential in shaping customers' UIs; and (4) perceived trustworthiness, intelligence, and enjoyment mediate the above effect.
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