Looking real and making mistakes

Abstract

What happens when a Virtual Human makes a mistake? In this study we investigate the impact of a VH's conversational mistakes in the context of persuasion. Users interacted with a VH that told persuasive information, and they were given the option to use the information to complete a problem-solving task. The VH occasionally made mistakes such as not responding, repeating the same answer, or giving an irrelevant reply. Results indicated that a VH who makes conversational mistakes is capable of social influence. Individual differences also shed light on the cognitive processes of users who interacted with error-prone VHs. We discuss the implications of these results with regard to VH design. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.