PROJECT TITLE :

Two Techniques for Assessing Virtual Agent Personality

ABSTRACT:

Temperament will be assessed with standardized inventory queries with scaled responses such as “How extraverted is that this character?” or with open-ended questions assessing 1st impressions, like “What personality will this character convey?” Little is known regarding how the 2 strategies compare to every other, and even less is understood about their use within the personality assessment of virtual agents. We have a tendency to tested what personality virtual agents conveyed through gesture alone when the agents were programmed to display introversion versus extraversion (Experiment 1) and high versus low emotional stability (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, each measures indicated participants perceived the extraverted agent as extraverted, however the open-question technique highlighted the perception of both agents as highly agreeable whereas the inventory indicated that the extraverted agents were also perceived as additional open to new experiences. In Experiment 2, participants perceived agents expressing high versus low emotional stability differently relying on assessment style. With inventory questions, the agents differed on each emotional stability and agreeableness. With the open-ended question, participants perceived the high stability agent as extraverted and also the low stability agent as disagreeable. Inventory and open-ended queries offer different info concerning what temperament virtual agents convey and each may be useful in agent development.