Existing computational theories of collaboration explain some of the important concepts underlying collaboration, e.g., the collaborators' commitments and communication. However, the underlying processes required to dynamically maintain the elements of the collaboration structure are largely unexplained. Our main insight is that in many collaborative situations acknowledging or ignoring a collaborator's affective state can facilitate or impede the progress of the collaboration. This implies that collaborative agents need to employ affect-related processes that (1) use the collaboration structure to evaluate the status of the collaboration, and (2) influence the collaboration structure when required. This thesis develops a new affect-driven computational framework to achieve these objectives and thus empower agents to be better collaborators. Contributions of this thesis are: (1) Affective Motivational Collaboration (AMC) theory, which incorporates appraisal processes into SharedPlans theory. (2) New computational appraisal algorithms based on collaboration structure. (3) Algorithms such as goal management, that use the output of appraisal to maintain collaboration structures. (4) Implementation of a computational system based on AMC theory. (5) Evaluation of AMC theory via two user studies to a) validate our appraisal algorithms, and b) investigate the overall functionality of our framework within an end-to-end system with a human and a robot.

Psykisk ohälsa hos ungdomar är ett växande problem och tonårstiden är en sårbar period för utveckling av bland annat stress, ångest och depression, tillstånd där skam och självkritik ofta ingår. Vidare har svårigheter att reglera känslor identifierats som en orsak till psykiska problem. Compassionfokuserad terapi (CFT) är en behandlingsform som har tagits fram för att fånga upp patienter som upplever skam och självkritik och metoden har god evidens för en vuxen population. Däremot finns det färre studier där behandlingens utfall undersökts för ungdomar, i synnerhet forskning där ungdomarnas egna erfarenheter av terapin studerats. Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie var att undersöka upplevelser av känslor efter avslutad compassionfokuserad gruppbehandling hos ungdomar med lindrig till måttlig grad av stress, ångest och depression. Tjugosex deltagare, 21 kvinnor, tre män och två icke-binära, i åldersgruppen 15-20 år intervjuades i fokusgrupper, och materialet analyserades med tematisk analys. I analyserna framkom olika beskrivningar av känslor som tolkades i fem teman: Förståelse för sig själv, Förändring, Gruppallians, Upplevelsebaserat och Värna Kroppen. Analysen ledde till slutsatser avseende deltagarnas beskrivningar av känslor som indikerar att olika dimensioner i den compassionfokuserade behandlingen har påverkat deltagarnas förmåga att känna trygghet och medvetandegöra känslor. Möjligheter att skifta perspektiv, få en ökad förståelse för sig själv, känna social tillhörighet, uppleva medveten närvaro och förstå kroppsliga sensationer kan bidra till ökad compassion vilket i sin tur kan påverka förmågan att förstå och reglera känslor. / Mental health issues among adolescents are a growing concern, and adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of stress, anxiety and depression, conditions which often involve elements of shame and self-criticism. Difficulties with emotion regulation have been identified as a cause of mental health problems. Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) has been developed to help patients who experience shame and self-criticism, and there is significant evidence that supports its efficiency in an adult population. However, only a few studies have investigated treatment outcomes for adolescents, particularly those examining the youths’ own experience of therapy. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of emotions after completing a compassion-focused treatment in a group of adolescents with mild to moderate levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Twenty-six participants, 21 females, three males, and two non-binary individuals, aged 15-20 years were interviewed in focus groups, and the material was analyzed using thematic analysis. In the analysis different descriptions of the participants' emotions emerged, which was interpreted into five themes: Self-Understanding, Change, Group Alliance, Experience-Based, and Care of the Body. The analysis led to conclusions about the participants' descriptions of emotions, which indicate that different dimensions of the compassion-focused treatment have influenced the participants’ ability to feel secure and be aware of their emotional experience. The opportunity to shift perspective, increase self-understanding, feel social belonging, experience mindfulness and understand bodily sensations may contribute to increased compassion and capacity to understand and regulate emotions.