Personification Aspect of Conversational Agents as Representations of a Physical Object

Abstract

Using computer technologies, the physical world in which we live and the virtual worlds generated by computers or popular cultures are coming closer together. Virtual agents are often designed that refer to humans in the physical world; at the same time, physical world products or services draw stories and emotions using characters. Computers can adjust virtual representations in the physical world based on the information they represent which is possessed by computers, and this adjustment leads to perceived personification. In this paper, we discuss the perception of personification and the possibility of application for persuasion. We developed a prototype application and then conducted surveys and a task-based user study. The results suggest the possibility of persuasion from personified agents superimposed close to an object.