This study sought a method for influencing people to anthropomorphize nonhuman agents in video games by making them seem unpredictable. This was inspired by Epley et al.’s (2007) Three-factor theory for anthropomorphism with focus on effectance motivation. It was also inspired by the studies done by Waytz et al. (2010) showing that perceived unpredictability about an agent causes people to anthropomorphize it. To see if perceived unpredictability would cause people to anthropomorphize a nonliving object in a video game, two versions of a game was created, one in which an object with seemingly random behavior was described as unpredictable and one in which the objects behavior was explained beforehand. The data gathered from the participants did not show any statistically significant differences between those that played one version and those that played the other. Meaning that in this case perceived unpredictability didn’t influence people to anthropomorphize a video game object.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The treatment of chronic diseases requires patient adherence to medical advice. Nonadherence worsens health outcomes and increases healthcare costs. Consultations with a virtual physician could increase adherence, given the shortage of healthcare professionals. However, if the virtual physician is a computer animation, acceptance of its advice may be hampered by the uncanny valley effect, a negative affective reaction to human simulations. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of the virtual physician on patients’ adherence. The first study, a 2 ´ 2 ´ 2 between-groups posttestonly experiment, involved 738 participants playing the role of a patient in a hypothetical virtual consultation with a doctor. The consultation varied in the doctor’s Character, Outcome, and Depiction. Character, Outcome, and Depiction were designed to manipulate the doctor’s level of warmth, competence, and realism. The second study, a 2 ´ 5 between-groups experiment, involved 441 participants assuming a patient’s role in a similar hypothetical virtual consultation with a doctor. The experiment varied the doctor’s Character and Depiction. These independent variables were designed to manipulate the doctor’s level of warmth and eeriness. The first study found that warmth and competence increased adherence intention and consultation enjoyment, but realism did not. On the contrary, the computer-animated doctor increased adherence intention and consultation enjoyment significantly more than the doctor portrayed by a human actor. The enjoyment of the animated consultation caused the doctor to appear warmer and more real, compensating for his realism inconsistency. In the second study, Depiction had a nonsignificant effect on adherence intention, even though the computer animated doctor was perceived as eerier than the real human. The low-warmth, high-eeriness doctor prompted heuristic processing of information, while the high-warmth doctor prompted systematic processing. This pattern runs counter to the literature on persuasion. The doctor’s eeriness, measured in a pretest, had no significant effect on adherence intention via the heuristic-systematic model. Although virtual characters can elicit the uncanny valley effect, they were comparable to a real person in increasing adherence intention, adherence and health behavior. This finding should encourage the development and acceptance of virtual consultation to address the shortage of healthcare professionals. / 2023-11-03

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Symbiosis, hosted by the Natural History Museum in Gray, Tennessee, from May 1st, through August 1st 2008. The exhibit includes works produced during the artist's three years of study at East Tennessee State University. The subject of the exhibition consists of drawings of the elephant's place in history through its relationship with humans. Topics explored include the elephant as victim, servant, god, prey, and ultimately as teacher. Discussion will also include artistic influences such as Sue Coe, Deborah Butterfield, Franz Marc, and Frank Noelker as well as theoretical influences by Carl G. Jung, James Hillman, and Jerome S. Bernstein.

This thesis worked towards answering the following question: Where, if at all, do the beliefs and behaviors associated with interacting with a nonhuman agent deviate from how we treat a human? This was done by exploring the inter-related fields of Human-Computer and Human-Robot Interaction in the literature review, viewing them through the theoretical lens of anthropomorphism. A study was performed which looked at how 104 participants would attribute blame in a robotic surgery scenario, as detailed in a vignette. A majority of results were statistically non-significant, however, some results emerged which may imply a diffusion of responsibility in human-robot collaboration scenarios.

The advancement of artificial intelligence and its diverse applications have attracted great interests from several research scholars examining communication between humans and chatbots. Many have explained the motivations of chatbot use, however, less emphasis has been given to myriad customer experiential needs for the interaction with this AI-powered technology. Therefore, in the light of U&G theory, this thesis presents a conceptual framework for customer experience as the needs for chatbot use. SOR model was also adopted to establish the links among customer experience as organisms (utilitarian – perceived informativeness and credibility; hedonic – perceived transparency, enjoyment and engagement; anthropomorphism – mindful and mindless anthropomorphism; and social presence), their primary stimuli (functionality, communication style similarity and aesthetics) and responses (customer satisfaction and reuse intention). 417 convenient samples were collected from the UK where chatbots are widely used. Results from SEM revealed that perceived credibility, informativeness, enjoyment, functionality and communication style similarity hold the keys for customer satisfaction, while effects of anthropomorphism and social presence are not significant in this research setting. This study has enriched U&G theory by addressing customer experience as ones’ motivations to use chatbots. Also, it has presented a fresh understanding of customer experience in chatbot context by considering utilitarian, hedonic, anthropomorphism and social presence as dimensions of customer experience rather than merely measuring how customers think, feel, sense, act and relate. In addition, practical implications and direction for future research are discussed.

Machine anthropomorphism is the reification of technology in representation, giving machines human features, qualities, and motivations. This study aims to investigate the origins and functions of machine anthropomorphism and the impact that it has on readers in a technic society as part of an ideological apparatus. It looks at how machine anthropomorphism creates a social imaginaire for technology and how animist representations of machines have shifted from adult culture to children’s fiction. Working from the premise that children identify with childlike machines such as Thomas the Tank Engine this study examines how the relationships between machines and humans are used to model relationships between children and adults. These fall into three modes of representation: the promethean machine, the fraternal machine, and the dominant machine. Each mode functions as an ideological apparatus to either support the promethean ideology, provide a counter discourse, or turn it on its head completely. The case studies focus on promethean representations in The Railway Series/Thomas and Friends and Bob the Builder; on fraternal representations in Ivor the Engine and WALL·E; and on reverse promethean representations in The Transformers franchise and Pixar’s Cars films. Machine anthropomorphism is an important mode of representation not only in children’s entertainment but increasingly in adult culture as well, functioning as part of an ideological apparatus to reproduce consumer power in a post-technic society. As technology becomes more human-like machine anthropomorphism functions to create a new social imaginaire, preparing society for the technical disruption of increased automation, robotics, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence.

Integrating animism and anthropomorphism into technology and our interactions with said technology allows for the design of better affordances, easier comprehension, and more intricate interactions between humans and technological artefacts. This study seeks to understand the circumstances and contexts under which humans tend to form emotional bonds with nonhuman entities and ascribe life-like or human-like qualities to them, through qualitative research. It also seeks to investigate whether animism and anthropomorphism apply to abstract entities such as a space, through ‘constructive design-based research’ and ‘thing-centered design’ methodologies. The investigations yield several insights in general, that are useful to designers attempting to incorporate animism and anthropomorphism into their work. The prototyping led to the creation of a prototype space that can serve as the foundation for future research. / Integrering av animism och antropomorfism i teknik och vår interaktion med nämnda teknik möjliggör design av bättre överkomliga priser, lättare förståelse och mer invecklade interaktioner mellan människor och tekniska artefakter. Denna studie syftar till att förstå de omständigheter och sammanhang under vilka människor tenderar att bilda känslomässiga band med icke-mänskliga enheter och tillskriva dem livsliknande eller mänskliga egenskaper genom kvalitativ forskning. Det försöker också undersöka om animism och antropomorfism gäller abstrakta enheter som ett utrymme, genom ‘constructive design-based research’ och ‘thing-centered design’ metoder. Undersökningarna ger i allmänhet flera insikter som är användbara för designers som försöker integrera animism och antropomorfism i sitt arbete. Prototyperingen ledde till skapandet av ett prototyputrymme som kan tjäna som grund för framtida forskning.

In a town in northern Norway, the sailors on whale-watching boats meet whales in their daily work. Many have up to 30 years’ experience in locating the whales, through sight or submerged microphones, and in positioning the boats in non-intrusive ways that respect the whales’ life in the open water. But in spite of this continued, long-lasting contact, the sailors agree that there is not much that can be known about the whales. This study, based on interviews to the five seamen of one whale-watching company, explores the resources on which the sailors can draw to make sense of the underwater beings they interact with. Departing from the ontological paradigm that sees the world as made up of overlapping realities, the author draws on different aspects of multispecies theory to explore how anthropomorphism, technology, and kinship are key elements that make up the sailors’ relational ontology with whales. This is analysed in the light of the doctrine of opacity, which posits that it is not necessary to know the mind of others to have successful relations. This study hopes to further the exploration of topics within maritime anthropology, and to contribute to a better understanding of human/underwater beings that leads to the preservation of their environment.

Loneliness among older adults is a problem with severe consequences to individual health, quality of life, cognitive capacity, and life-expectancy. Although approaches towards improving the quality and quantity of social relationships are the prevailing model of therapy, older adults may not always be able to form these relationships due to either personality factors, decreased mobility, or isolation. Intelligent personal assistants (IPAs), virtual agents, and social robotics offer an opportunity for the development of technology that could potentially serve as social companions to older adults. The present study explored whether an IPA could potentially be used as a social companion to older adults feeling lonely. Additionally, the research explored whether the device has the potential to generate social presence among both young and older adults. Results indicate that while the devices do show some social presence, participants rate the device low on some components of social presence, such as emotional contagion. This adversely affects the possibility of a social relationship between an older adult and the device. Analysis reveals ways to improve social presence in these devices.

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