Computational Empathy Counteracts the Negative Effects of Anger on Creative Problem Solving

Matthew Groh, Craig Ferguson, Robert Lewis, Rosalind W. Picard

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

How does empathy influence creative problem solving? We introduce a computational empathy intervention based on context-specific affective mimicry and perspective taking by a virtual agent appearing in the form of a well-dressed polar bear. In an online experiment with 1,006 participants randomly assigned to an emotion elicitation intervention (with a control elicitation condition and anger elicitation condition) and a computational empathy intervention (with control virtual agent and an empathic virtual agent), we examine how anger and empathy influence participants' performance in solving a word game based on Wordle. We find participants who are assigned to the anger elicitation condition perform significantly worse on multiple performance metrics than participants assigned to the control condition. However, we find the empathic virtual agent counteracts the drop in performance induced by the anger condition such that participants assigned to both the empathic virtual agent and the anger condition perform no differently than participants in the control elicitation condition and significantly better than participants assigned to the control virtual agent and the anger elicitation condition. While empathy reduces the negative effects of anger, we do not find evidence that the empathic virtual agent influences performance of participants who are assigned to the control elicitation condition. By introducing a framework for computational empathy interventions and conducting a two-by-two factorial design randomized experiment, we provide rigorous, empirical evidence that computational empathy can counteract the negative effects of anger on creative problem solving.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2022 10th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, ACII 2022
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781665459082
DOIs
StatePublished - 2022
Event10th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, ACII 2022 - Nara, Japan
Duration: Oct 18 2022Oct 21 2022

Publication series

Name2022 10th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, ACII 2022

Conference

Conference10th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, ACII 2022
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityNara
Period10/18/2210/21/22

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the MIT Media Lab member companies.

Keywords

  • creative problem solving
  • emotion elicitation
  • empathic virtual agents
  • empathy
  • randomized experiment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Human-Computer Interaction

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