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research-article

The appearance effect

Authors:

Youssef Shiban,

Iris Schelhorn,

Alexander Hörnlein,

Andreas MühlbergerAuthors Info & Claims

Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 49, Issue C

Pages 5 - 11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.01.077

Published: 01 August 2015 Publication History

Abstract

Jung and attractive female agent positively impacts interest in learning.Old and unattractive male agent has no impact on the motivation.Agent appearance did not impact performance on a final exam.Initial evidence for importance of utilizing personalized agents in learning tutoring. Background: Anthropomorphic (human-like) agents are commonly applied in e-learning as tutors for students, but we still do not know which particular features of an agent contribute to an enhancement of learning and motivation. Method: In this study a sample of university students was offered online learning cases as exam preparation aid and students were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The first group was tutored by a virtual male agent, the second by a virtual female agent. The cases of the third group were not assigned with an agent. We investigated if and under which circumstances a virtual tutor influences the students' exam performance, interest in the course material and their enjoyment during learning. Results: While the female agent (rated as young and attractive) had a positive impact on the interest in the course material, the male agent (rated as old and less attractive) had no positive influence at all on motivation or performance of the students on the exam. Conclusions: Appearance features of tutoring agents in e-learning independently influence the student's motivation and performance. Thus, interest can be manipulated by different aspects of the agent dependent on the primary goal while the agents have no effect on performance. We therefore suggest implementing personalized tutors in e-learning tutorials; however, we recommend more research examining the underlying mechanisms behind the positive effects on interest and look for ways to transfer them to performance.

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Cited By

Karaoǧlu SKatoh MMajumdar TBeaird EMerve Hafızoǧlu FSen S(2024)Effect of Agent Explanations Using Warm and Cold Language on User Adoption of Recommendations for Bandit ProblemsExplainable and Transparent AI and Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/978-3-031-70074-3_1(3-20)Online publication date: 6-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-70074-3_1
Woo JPelachaud CAchard C(2023)ASAP: Endowing Adaptation Capability to Agent in Human-Agent InteractionProceedings of the 28th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces10.1145/3581641.3584081(464-475)Online publication date: 27-Mar-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3581641.3584081
Matsui T(2021)Power of Gijinka: Designing Virtual Teachers for Ecosystem Conservation EducationProceedings of the 9th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction10.1145/3472307.3484650(328-331)Online publication date: 9-Nov-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3472307.3484650
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Published In

cover image Computers in Human Behavior

Computers in Human Behavior Volume 49, Issue C

August 2015

680 pages

ISSN:0747-5632

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © Elsevier Ltd.

Publisher

Elsevier Science Publishers B. V.

Netherlands

Publication History

Published: 01 August 2015

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Karaoǧlu SKatoh MMajumdar TBeaird EMerve Hafızoǧlu FSen S(2024)Effect of Agent Explanations Using Warm and Cold Language on User Adoption of Recommendations for Bandit ProblemsExplainable and Transparent AI and Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/978-3-031-70074-3_1(3-20)Online publication date: 6-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-70074-3_1
Woo JPelachaud CAchard C(2023)ASAP: Endowing Adaptation Capability to Agent in Human-Agent InteractionProceedings of the 28th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces10.1145/3581641.3584081(464-475)Online publication date: 27-Mar-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3581641.3584081
Matsui T(2021)Power of Gijinka: Designing Virtual Teachers for Ecosystem Conservation EducationProceedings of the 9th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction10.1145/3472307.3484650(328-331)Online publication date: 9-Nov-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3472307.3484650
Feijóo-García PZalake Mde Siqueira ALok BHamza-Lup F(2021)Effects of Virtual Humans' Gender and Spoken Accent on Users' Perceptions of Expertise in Mental Wellness ConversationsProceedings of the 21st ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents10.1145/3472306.3478367(68-75)Online publication date: 14-Sep-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3472306.3478367
Liu NLiu RLi W(2021)Identifying Design Feature Factors Critical to Acceptance of Smart Voice AssistantCross-Cultural Design. Applications in Cultural Heritage, Tourism, Autonomous Vehicles, and Intelligent Agents10.1007/978-3-030-77080-8_30(384-395)Online publication date: 24-Jul-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-030-77080-8_30
Kurzweg MReinhardt JStoll MWirth JWolf K(2020)PLAY ME! Influencing Game Decisions through Suggestions made by Augmented CharactersProceedings of the 19th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia10.1145/3428361.3428406(288-298)Online publication date: 22-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3428361.3428406
Zhan JLiu MGarrod OJack RSchyns P(2020)A Generative Model of Cultural Face AttractivenessProceedings of the 20th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents10.1145/3383652.3423914(1-3)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3383652.3423914
Feine JGnewuch UMorana SMaedche A(2019)A Taxonomy of Social Cues for Conversational AgentsInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2019.07.009132:C(138-161)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2019
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Parmar DOlafsson SUtami DBickmore TBogdanovych ARichards DSimoff SPelachaud CHeylen DTrescak T(2018)Looking the PartProceedings of the 18th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents10.1145/3267851.3267915(301-306)Online publication date: 5-Nov-2018
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Diner SDoanay A(2017)The effects of multiple-pedagogical agents on learners academic success, motivation, and cognitive loadComputers & Education10.1016/j.compedu.2017.04.005111:C(74-100)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2017
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