The more humanlike, the better? How speech type and users’ cognitive style affect social responses to computers

Abstract: The present experiment investigated if anthropomorphic interfaces facilitate people’s tendency to project social expectations onto computers and how such effects might vary depending on users’ cognitive style. In a 2 (synthetic vs. recorded speech)×2 (flattering vs. generic feedback)×2 (low vs. high rationality)×2 (low vs. high experientiality) experiment, participants played a trivia game with a computer. Use of recorded speech did not amplify the previously documented flattery effects (), challenging the notion that anthropomorphism will promote social responses to computers. Participants evaluated the human-voiced computer more positively and conformed more to its suggestions than the one using synthetic speech, but such effects were found only among less analytical or more intuition-driven individuals, suggesting dispositional differences in people’s susceptibility to anthropomorphic cues embedded in the interface. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]