Bonding Objects

The class of bonding objects builds on Emotional Anthropomorphism as described in Section 2.4.4 and basically comprises the social relation of the interactive device to the user. Talking Objects can generally be utilised as a base interaction paradigm in order to establish a rela- tionship. The key aspect of this class is that relationship is a persistent and evolving construct that develops over time and spans multiple interaction sessions.

Hong et al. have summarised in their overview paper ”Advances in Tangible Interaction and Ubiquitous Virtual Reality” that criticism within the TUI community was formulated towards the fact that research activities focus on short-duration application while it appears worthwhile to to consider longer periods of interaction in the user’s life [Hong et al., 2008]. It has also been stated in this paper that ”tangibles could open new avenues for bonding with

products, allowing products to physically evolve over time”. This is further supported by

Hornecker, who referred to studies showing that bodily interaction and touch rouse emotions and enhance inner sympathy [Hornecker and Bruns, 2004].

Only few studies on embodied agents have taken the endeavours to examine such long term effects on users. Bickmore and Picard have investigated long-term relationships in HCI within the FitTrack project (see Section 3.3.1.3) and recapitulated strategies for social relationship management - mainly for reducing social distance - that could be employed by a computer [Bickmore and Picard, 2005], which we have adapted for anthropomorphic smart object scenarios:

Social Dialogue: A form of talk that is particularly lacking in task-oriented content, also called small talk or phatic communication. Such a social dialogue can be used to main- tain relational nuances even when no explicit task is being performed [Jakobson, 1960]. Social Deixis: The encoding of relational status in language is a phenomenon called so-

cial deixis [Levinson, 1983]. A familiar example is the form of address, greeting and

parting routines that are used between people having different relationships, with titles ranging from professional forms (”Dr. Smith”) to first names (”Joe”) and greetings ranging from a simple ”Hello” to the more formal ”Good Morning”. A further exam- ple is politeness theory, which describes different forms of indirectness for a request depending on the nature of the relationship between the requesting person and potential supporter and on how cumbersome the request is (e.g. the difference between asking your boss for $5 or a close friend). Thus, appropriate use of social deixis can help to affirm and maintain the status of an existing relationship, while using language features indicating a different form of relationship can signal a desire to change the relational status.

Empathy: Delineating the process of attending to, understanding, and responding to an- other person’s expressions of emotion is not only important for intimate relationships but also cited as most important for building good working alliances between helpers and clients or physicians and patients. Klein et al. have shown that an empathetic and accurate computer can achieve significant behavioural effects on a user, similar to what could be expected from human empathy [Klein et al., 2002].

Self-Disclosure: Reciprocal self-disclosure increases trust, closeness and liking, which has been demonstrated in text-based human-computer interaction. Users are also more likely to buy a product from the computer if reciprocal, deepening self-disclosure is applied [Moon, 2000].

Continuity behaviour: Bridging the time people are apart can be facilitated by appropriate greetings and farewells and talk about the time in separation. Such behaviour is impor- tant to maintain a feeling of persistence in a relationship [Gilbertson et al., 1998]. Humour: Computer systems that employ humour are rated as more likeable, competent

and cooperative and thus form an important relationship management strategy (e.g. [Morkes et al., 1999]).

Reeves and Nass have further demonstrated several relational effects, which result in a more sympathetic attitude towards the computer if it [Reeves and Nass, 1996]...

4.3. ANTHROPOMORPHIC SMART OBJECT CLASSES 111

• ...uses flattery, or praises rather than criticises users.

• ...praises other computers or criticises itself, instead of praising itself or criticising

others.

• ...becomes more like the user over time or if it maintains a consistent level of similarity. • ...teams with a user, which can be achieved by simply signifying that user and computer

are a team - which will also increases the willingness for cooperation.

All of these strategies can be employed by conversational means (i.e. Talking Objects), while some can also be implemented in a more subtle manner by animalistic processes, e.g. expressing empathy towards the user. The application of such methods does at the same time address joy of use qualities that relate to the individuality of the interface, namely the key factors personal experiences of use and individualisation, and furthermore the desire for social interaction (see Section 2.2.1.1).

The domain of applications for bonding objects can be derived from the range of sce- narios that relationships are generally good for, as provided by models of social psychol- ogy. These include emotional support (e.g., esteem, reassurance of worth, affection, at- tachment, intimacy), appraisal support (e.g., advice and guidance, information, feedback), instrumental support (e.g., material assistance), group belonging, opportunities to nurture, autonomy support, and social network support (e.g., providing introductions to other people) [Berscheid and Reis, 1998].

In particular, relationships can also play a role in persuasive scenarios. Perceived trust- worthiness and overall charm of a source of persuasive information play an important role in the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion [Petty and Wegener, 1998]. In this theory, if a decision is of low personal importance, then characteristics such as trustability and sym- pathy of the source of information have significant influence on the decision. Thus, bonding objects could be used in sales scenarios, which aim at building relationships with client users just as one could expect from a human sales person [Anselmi and Zemanek, 1997].

Education scenarios are another possible field of application. It has been shown that within elementary school, students feelings of relatedness towards both their teacher and classmates strongly influence their cognitive, behavioural, and emotional engagement in classroom activities [Stipek, 1996]. Furthermore, there is evidence that relationships be- tween students are important in peer learning situations, including peer tutoring and peer collaborative learning methodologies [Damon and Phelps, 1989].

In studies of customer service relations, there is differentiation between three types of relationships: Service relationships, in which customer and service provider expect to meet again in future. Pseudorelationships, in which customers expect to interact again with the same company but not the same person in the future and service encounters, which do not pre- sume expectations of future interactions. Gutek et al. [Gutek et al., 2000] observed in their studies that customers in a service relationship reported more trust in their service providers,

more interest in continuing the interaction, and more willingness to refer the provider to oth- ers, than customers in either pseudorelationships or service encounters. Results also indicate that a service relationship is significantly more effective at inducing trust, commitment and referrals than attempts to establish brand or firm loyalty.

Summing up, qualities of relationship can have major impact on tasks in diverse areas, such as education, sales, or different types of service situations. Thus, employing bonding objects in such and similar contexts does not only have the potential to create more believable and enjoyable smart object interaction, but also for significantly improving user performance and results.