ABSTRACT
Despite the clear benefits that social connection offers to well-being, strangers in close physical proximity regularly ignore each other due to their tendency to underestimate the positive consequences of social connection. In a between-subjects study (N = 49 pairs, 98 participants), we investigated the effectiveness of a humanoid robot, a computer screen, and a poster at stimulating meaningful, face-to-face conversations between two strangers by posing progressively deeper questions. We found that the humanoid robot facilitator was able to elicit the greatest compliance with the deep conversation questions. Additionally, participants in conversations facilitated by either the humanoid robot or the computer screen reported greater happiness and connection to their conversation partner than those in conversations facilitated by a poster. These results suggest that technology-enabled conversation facilitators can be useful in breaking the ice between strangers, ultimately helping them develop closer connections through face-to-face conversations and thereby enhance their overall well-being.
Supplemental Material
- Monica Anderson, Emily A Vogels, and Erica Turner. 2020. The virtues and downsides of online dating. (2020).Google Scholar
- A. Aron, E. N. Aron, and D Smollan. 1992. Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness., 596–612 pages. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.63.4.596Google ScholarCross Ref
- Arthur Aron, Edward Melinat, Elaine N Aron, Robert Darrin Vallone, and Renee J Bator. 1997. The experimental generation of interpersonal closeness: A procedure and some preliminary findings. Personality and social psychology bulletin 23, 4 (1997), 363–377.Google Scholar
- Stav Atir, Kristina A. Wald, and Nicholas Epley. 2022. Talking with strangers is surprisingly informative. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, 34(2022), e2206992119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2206992119 arXiv:https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2206992119Google ScholarCross Ref
- Wilma Bainbridge, Justin Hart, Elizabeth Kim, and Brian Scassellati. 2011. The Benefits of Interactions with Physically Present Robots over Video-Displayed Agents. I. J. Social Robotics 3 (10 2011), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-010-0082-7Google ScholarCross Ref
- Kathy R. Berenson, Anett Gyurak, Özlem Ayduk, Geraldine Downey, Matthew J. Garner, Karin Mogg, Brendan P. Bradley, and Daniel S. Pine. 2009. Rejection sensitivity and disruption of attention by social threat cues. Journal of Research in Personality 43, 6 (2009), 1064–1072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2009.07.007Google ScholarCross Ref
- Michael Bernstein, Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Drew Harry, Paul André, Katrina Panovich, and Greg Vargas. 2021. 4chan and /b/: An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in a Large Online Community. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media 5, 1 (Aug. 2021), 50–57. https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/14134Google ScholarCross Ref
- Colleen M. Carpinella, Alisa B. Wyman, Michael A. Perez, and Steven J. Stroessner. 2017. The Robotic Social Attributes Scale (RoSAS): Development and Validation. In 2017 12th ACM/IEEE Int. Conf. on Human-Robot Interaction. 254–262.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Vijay Chidambaram, Yueh-Hsuan Chiang, and Bilge Mutlu. 2012. Designing persuasive robots: how robots might persuade people using vocal and nonverbal cues. In Proceedings of the seventh annual ACM/IEEE international conference on Human-Robot Interaction. 293–300.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Michael Draper. 2008. Self-Disclosure and Friendship Closeness Michael Draper, Rachel Pittard, and Michael Sterling Hanover College 18 April 2008. (2008).Google Scholar
- Nicholas Epley, Michael Kardas, Xuan Zhao, Stav Atir, and Juliana Schroeder. 2022. Undersociality: miscalibrated social cognition can inhibit social connection. Trends in Cognitive Sciences(2022).Google Scholar
- Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder. 2014. Mistakenly seeking solitude.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 143, 5 (2014), 1980.Google Scholar
- Miguel Faria, Rui Silva, Patrícia Alves-Oliveira, Francisco S Melo, and Ana Paiva. 2017. “Me and you together” movement impact in multi-user collaboration tasks. In 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). IEEE, 2793–2798.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Francis J Flynn and Vanessa KB Lake. 2008. If you need help, just ask: Underestimating compliance with direct requests for help.Journal of personality and social psychology 95, 1(2008), 128.Google Scholar
- Sarah Gillet, Ronald Cumbal, André Pereira, José Lopes, Olov Engwall, and Iolanda Leite. 2021. Robot gaze can mediate participation imbalance in groups with different skill levels. In Proceedings of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. 303–311.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Samuel D Gosling, Peter J Rentfrow, and William B Swann Jr. 2003. A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality 37, 6 (2003), 504–528.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Gul Gunaydin, Hazal Oztekin, Deniz Hazal Karabulut, and Selin Salman-Engin. 2021. Minimal social interactions with strangers predict greater subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies 22, 4 (2021), 1839–1853.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Chad Harms and Frank Biocca. 2004. Internal consistency and reliability of the networked minds measure of social presence. In Seventh annual international workshop: Presence, Vol. 2004. Universidad Politecnica de Valencia Valencia, Spain.Google Scholar
- Mitchell Hobbs, Stephen Owen, and Livia Gerber. 2017. Liquid love? Dating apps, sex, relationships and the digital transformation of intimacy. Journal of Sociology 53, 2 (2017), 271–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783316662718 arXiv:https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783316662718Google ScholarCross Ref
- Rob W Holland, Ute-Regina Roeder, Baaren Rick B. van, Aafje C Brandt, and Bettina Hannover. 2004. Don’t stand so close to me: The effects of self-construal on interpersonal closeness. Psychological science 15, 4 (2004), 237–242.Google Scholar
- Melissa G Hunt, Rachel Marx, Courtney Lipson, and Jordyn Young. 2018. No more FOMO: Limiting social media decreases loneliness and depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 37, 10 (2018), 751–768.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Daniel Jones. 2015. The 36 questions that lead to Love. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/style/no-37-big-wedding-or-small.htmlGoogle Scholar
- Malte Jung, Nikolas Martelaro, and Pamela Hinds. 2015. Using Robots to Moderate Team Conflict: The Case of Repairing Violations, Vol. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1145/2696454.2696460Google ScholarDigital Library
- Younbo Jung and Kwan Min Lee. 2004. Effects of physical embodiment on social presence of social robots. Proceedings of PRESENCE 2004 (2004), 80–87.Google Scholar
- Michael Kardas, Amit Kumar, and Nicholas Epley. [n. d.]. Digging Deeper: Meaningful Conversations Are Surprisingly Pleasant. ([n. d.]).Google Scholar
- Michael Kardas, Amit Kumar, and Nicholas Epley. 2021. Overly shallow?: Miscalibrated expectations create a barrier to deeper conversation.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2021).Google Scholar
- Yutaka Kondo, Kentaro Takemura, Jun Takamatsu, and Tsukasa Ogasawara. 2013. A gesture-centric android system for multi-party human-robot interaction. Journal of Human-Robot Interaction 2, 1 (2013), 133–151.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Lara Kroencke, Gabriella M Harari, Mitja D Back, and Jenny Wagner. 2022. Well-being in social interactions: Examining personality-situation dynamics in face-to-face and computer-mediated communication.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2022).Google Scholar
- Ethan Kross, Philippe Verduyn, Gal Sheppes, Cory K Costello, John Jonides, and Oscar Ybarra. 2021. Social media and well-being: Pitfalls, progress, and next steps. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 25, 1 (2021), 55–66.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Mark R. Leary. 1983. A Brief Version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 9, 3 (1983), 371–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167283093007Google ScholarCross Ref
- Dong Liu, Roy F Baumeister, Chia-chen Yang, and Baijing Hu. 2019. Digital communication media use and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 24, 5 (2019), 259–273.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Larisa McLouglin, Barbara Spears, and Carmel Taddeo. 2018. The importance of social connection for cybervictims: how connectedness and technology could promote mental health and wellbeing in young people.International Journal of Emotional Education 10, 1 (2018), 5–24.Google Scholar
- Matthias R Mehl, Simine Vazire, Shannon E Holleran, and C Shelby Clark. 2010. Eavesdropping on happiness: Well-being is related to having less small talk and more substantive conversations. Psychological science 21, 4 (2010), 539–541.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Bilge Mutlu, Toshiyuki Shiwa, Takayuki Kanda, Hiroshi Ishiguro, and Norihiro Hagita. 2009. Footing in human-robot conversations: how robots might shape participant roles using gaze cues. In Proceedings of the 4th ACM/IEEE international conference on Human robot interaction. 61–68.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Tien T. Nguyen, Duyen T. Nguyen, Shamsi T. Iqbal, and Eyal Ofek. 2015. The Known Stranger: Supporting Conversations between Strangers with Personalized Topic Suggestions. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Seoul, Republic of Korea) (CHI ’15). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 555–564. https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702411Google ScholarDigital Library
- Marta Pancheva and Alejandra Vásquez. 2022. Close to others-closer to happiness?: An empirical investigation of the social determinants of subjective wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing 12, 2 (2022).Google ScholarCross Ref
- James W Pennebaker, Ryan L Boyd, Kayla Jordan, and Kate Blackburn. 2015. The development and psychometric properties of LIWC2015. Technical Report.Google Scholar
- James W Pennebaker, Martha E Francis, and Roger J Booth. 2001. Linguistic inquiry and word count: LIWC 2001. Mahway: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 71, 2001 (2001), 2001.Google Scholar
- Anat Perry, David Mankuta, and Simone G Shamay-Tsoory. 2015. OT promotes closer interpersonal distance among highly empathic individuals. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 10, 1 (2015), 3–9.Google Scholar
- Sarah D Pressman, Sheldon Cohen, Gregory E Miller, Anita Barkin, Bruce S Rabin, and John J Treanor. 2005. Loneliness, social network size, and immune response to influenza vaccination in college freshmen., 297-306 pages. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.24.3.297Google ScholarCross Ref
- Laurel D Riek. 2012. Wizard of oz studies in hri: a systematic review and new reporting guidelines. Journal of Human-Robot Interaction 1, 1 (2012), 119–136.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Gillian M Sandstrom and Erica J Boothby. 2021. Why do people avoid talking to strangers? A mini meta-analysis of predicted fears and actual experiences talking to a stranger. Self and Identity 20, 1 (2021), 47–71.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Gillian M Sandstrom, Erica J Boothby, and Gus Cooney. 2022. Talking to strangers: A week-long intervention reduces psychological barriers to social connection. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 102 (2022), 104356.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Gillian M Sandstrom and Elizabeth W Dunn. 2014. Is efficiency overrated? Minimal social interactions lead to belonging and positive affect. Social Psychological and Personality Science 5, 4 (2014), 437–442.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Gillian M Sandstrom and Elizabeth W Dunn. 2014. Social interactions and well-being: The surprising power of weak ties. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 40, 7 (2014), 910–922.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Holly Schiffrin, Anna Edelman, Melissa Falkenstern, and Cassandra Stewart. 2010. The associations among computer-mediated communication, relationships, and well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 13, 3(2010), 299–306.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Juliana Schroeder, Donald Lyons, and Nicholas Epley. 2022. Hello, stranger? Pleasant conversations are preceded by concerns about starting one.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 151, 5 (2022), 1141.Google Scholar
- Sarah Sebo, Brett Stoll, Brian Scassellati, and Malte F Jung. 2020. Robots in groups and teams: a literature review. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 4, CSCW2(2020), 1–36.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Solace Shen, Petr Slovak, and Malte F Jung. 2018. " Stop. I See a Conflict Happening." A Robot Mediator for Young Children’s Interpersonal Conflict Resolution. In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM/IEEE international conference on human-robot interaction. 69–77.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Donghoon Shin, Sangwon Yoon, Soomin Kim, and Joonhwan Lee. 2021. BlahBlahBot: Facilitating Conversation between Strangers Using a Chatbot with ML-Infused Personalized Topic Suggestion. In Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Yokohama, Japan) (CHI EA ’21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 409, 6 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411763.3451771Google ScholarDigital Library
- Sarah Strohkorb Sebo, Ling Liang Dong, Nicholas Chang, and Brian Scassellati. 2020. Strategies for the inclusion of human members within human-robot teams. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. 309–317.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Sarah Strohkorb Sebo, Margaret Traeger, Malte Jung, and Brian Scassellati. 2018. The ripple effects of vulnerability: The effects of a robot’s vulnerable behavior on trust in human-robot teams. In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. 178–186.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Jan Svennevig. 1999. Getting Acquainted in Conversation: A Study of Initial Interactions. John Benjamins, Amsterdam. 384 pages. https://benjamins.com/catalog/pbns.64Google ScholarCross Ref
- Margaret L Traeger, Sarah Strohkorb Sebo, Malte Jung, Brian Scassellati, and Nicholas A Christakis. 2020. Vulnerable robots positively shape human conversational dynamics in a human–robot team. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, 12(2020), 6370–6375.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Sherry Turkle. 2012. Alone together: why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Basic Books. 384 pages.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Jean M Twenge, Jonathan Haidt, Andrew B Blake, Cooper McAllister, Hannah Lemon, and Astrid Le Roy. 2021. Worldwide increases in adolescent loneliness. Journal of adolescence 93 (2021), 257–269.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Daniel Ullman and Bertram Malle. 2018. What Does it Mean to Trust a Robot?: Steps Toward a Multidimensional Measure of Trust. 263–264. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173386.3176991Google ScholarDigital Library
- Dina Utami and Timothy Bickmore. 2019. Collaborative user responses in multiparty interaction with a couples counselor robot. In 2019 14th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). IEEE, 294–303.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Gerben A Van Kleef, Carsten KW De Dreu, and Antony SR Manstead. 2010. An interpersonal approach to emotion in social decision making: The emotions as social information model. In Advances in experimental social psychology. Vol. 42. Elsevier, 45–96.Google Scholar
- Chia-chen Yang. 2016. Instagram use, loneliness, and social comparison orientation: Interact and browse on social media, but don’t compare. Cyberpsychology, behavior, and social networking 19, 12(2016), 703–708.Google Scholar
- Zhimin Yang, Boying Zhang, Jiangpeng Dai, Adam C. Champion, Dong Xuan, and Du Li. 2010. E-SmallTalker: A Distributed Mobile System for Social Networking in Physical Proximity. In 2010 IEEE 30th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems. 468–477. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDCS.2010.56Google ScholarDigital Library
- John M Zelenski, Deanna C Whelan, Logan J Nealis, Christina M Besner, Maya S Santoro, and Jessica E Wynn. 2013. Personality and affective forecasting: Trait introverts underpredict the hedonic benefits of acting extraverted.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 104, 6(2013), 1092.Google Scholar
- Xuan Zhao and Nicholas Epley. 2021. Insufficiently complimentary?: Underestimating the positive impact of compliments creates a barrier to expressing them.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 121, 2(2021), 239.Google Scholar
- Xuan Zhao and Nicholas Epley. 2022. Surprisingly happy to have helped: How underestimating prosociality creates a misplaced barrier to asking for help. (2022).Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Ice-Breaking Technology: Robots and Computers Can Foster Meaningful Connections between Strangers through In-Person Conversations
Recommendations
“All the world’s a stage”: incongruity humour revisited
AbstractEighteenth and nineteenth century philosophers took interest in humour and, in particular, humorous incongruities. Humour was not necessarily their main interest; however, observations on humour could support their more general philosophical ...
Conversational gaze mechanisms for humanlike robots
During conversations, speakers employ a number of verbal and nonverbal mechanisms to establish who participates in the conversation, when, and in what capacity. Gaze cues and mechanisms are particularly instrumental in establishing the participant roles ...
How people anthropomorphize robots
HRI '08: Proceedings of the 3rd ACM/IEEE international conference on Human robot interactionWe explored anthropomorphism in people's reactions to a robot in social context vs. their more considered judgments of robots in the abstract. Participants saw a photo and read transcripts from a health interview by a robot or human interviewer. For ...
Comments