Page 38 - Socially Intelligent Agents Creating Relationships with Computers and Robots

Chapter 2

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE

Per Persson , Jarmo Laaksolahti and Peter L¨ onnqvist

Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista, Sweden, Department of Computer and Systems
Sciences, Stockholm University and Royal Institute of Technology

Abstract Believable social interaction is not only about agents that look right but also do
the right thing. To achieve this we must consider the everyday knowledge and
expectations by which users make sense of real, fictive or artificial social be-
ings. This folk-theoretical understanding of other social beings involves several,
rather independent, levels such as expectations on behaviour, expectations on
primitive psychology, models of folk-psychology, understanding of traits, social
roles and empathy. Implications for Socially Intelligent Agents (SIA) research
are discussed.

1. Introduction
Agent technology refers to a set of software approaches that are shifting
users’ view of information technology from tools to actors. Tools react only
when interacted with, while agents act autonomously and proactively, some-
times outside the user’s awareness. With an increasing number of autonomous
agents and robots making their way into aspects of our everyday life, users
are encouraged to understand them in terms of human behaviour and inten-
tionality. Reeves and Nass [5] have shown that people relate to computers -
as well as other types of media - as if they were ’real’, e.g., by being polite
to computers. However, some systems seem to succeed better than others in
encouraging such anthropomorphic attributions, creating a more coherent and
transparent experience [20]. What are the reasons for this? What encourages
users to understand a system in terms of human intentionality, emotion and cog-
nition? What shapes users’ experiences of this kind? Software agent research
often focuses on the graphical representation of agents. Synchronisation of lip
movements and speech, gestures and torso movements as well as the quality of
the graphical output itself are questions that have been investigated [6] [14]. In