How robots can persuade people to save energy


A Persuasive Robotic Agent to Save Energy: The Influence of Social Feedback, Feedback Valence and Task Similarity on Energy Conservation Behavior

by Jaap Ham and Cees Midden in Neitherland


iCat





The 3 interesting experiments

Participants did some laundry tasks on a simulated laundry
Social feedback versus Factual feedback
Positive feedback vs negative feedback


Social vs Factual feedback


                                             ↑  virtual
light on top ear                                                     
low & high                                                     


Positive vs Negative feedback

  • +
    • smile face
    • "awesome"
  • -
    • sad face
    • "terrible"


Findings

  • consume less
    • social feedback
    • negative feedback
  • consume the same
    • low agency & high agency social feedback


Pros: 3 experiments

  • second
    • between-subject study
      • reduce effects of opposite feedback (+ and -)
    • used a CRT monitor and two loudspeakers
      • white, red, black
      • pleasant ring
  • third: task similarity -> save even more on similar tasks
    • Results indicate that when tasks were relatively dissimilar, negative feedback led to the most savings.
    • But, importantly, the effects of negative feedback were larger when tasks were relatively similar.


Another pro

  • low and high social feedback
    • facial vs speech
    • indicates style matters


Missing point


human beings during the the process of persuading


Negative feedback: WildCat



Discussions


What if this study is a long term study? Are those findings still applicable?

This paper only focused on getting result - changing human's behaviour. Do you think it's more appropriate to analyze participants' thoughts?

Do you think negative feedback should be apply more?

A Persuasive Robotic Agent to Save Energy:The Influence of Social Feedback, Feedback Valence and Task Similarity on Energy Conservation Behavior

By Zhao Han

A Persuasive Robotic Agent to Save Energy:The Influence of Social Feedback, Feedback Valence and Task Similarity on Energy Conservation Behavior

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