Effects of Dynamic Attributes of Smiles in Human and Synthetic Faces: A Simulated Job Interview Setting

We examined the effects of the temporal quality of smile displays on impressions and decisions made in a simulated job interview. We also investigated whether similar judgments were made in response to synthetic (Study 1) and human facial stimuli (Study 2). Participants viewed short video excerpts of female interviewees exhibiting dynamic authentic smiles, dynamic fake smiles, or neutral expressions, and rated them with respect to a number of attributes. In both studies, perceivers' judgments and employment decisions were significantly shaped by the temporal quality of smiles, with dynamic authentic smiles generally leading to more favorable job, person, and expression ratings than dynamic fake smiles or neutral expressions. Furthermore, authentically smiling interviewees were judged to be more suitable and were more likely to be short-listed and selected for the job. The findings show a high degree of correspondence in the effects created by synthetic and human facial stimuli, suggesting that temporal features of smiles similarly influence perceivers' judgments and decisions across the two types of stimulu

Temporal aspects of facial displays

A limitation of much past research on facial expression of emotion is its focus on static facial images. The research reported in the present dissertation was designed to examine the role played by dynamic information in the interpretation of facial expressions, particularly with respect to their perceived authenticity. In a first set of studies, the dynamic properties (i.e., onset, apex, and offset durations) of smiles were manipulated in the context of two social settings. Using a simulated job interview situation, the studies reported in Chapter 2 show that temporal aspects of smiles significantly influenced judgements made about interviewees. Comparable effects were found for synthetic and human faces. In the studies reported in Chapter 3, the impact of dynamic aspects of smiles was investigated in the context of two trust games with financial stakes. Choice of counterpart and decisions to cooperate with another person in the game were influenced by the dynamic quality of counterparts' smiles. These effects of facial dynamics on cooperative behaviour were shown to be mediated by the perceived trustworthiness of the other player. Focusing on real smiles, the research in Chapter 4 explored the role of the Duchenne smile in the expression and perception of spontaneous and posed smiles. In comparison to dynamic aspects, the signal value of the Duchenne marker was found to be limited and significant only for ratings of the upper face and of static displays. The study reported in Chapter 5 examined the role of smiles with different temporal dynamics in moderating judgements of emotional utterances. Smiles significantly influenced perceptions of emotional state evoked by the utterances and led to different attributions depending on whether anger or disgust was conveyed verbally. In sum, the findings illustrate that dynamic properties convey important information that is detected accurately and decoded meaningfully by perceivers

Configuring social agents

Social agents have recently been more frequently used in the user interface. However, so far not many studies have been conducted on what impact such interfaces have on users behavior. This paper discusses this and reports on empirical findings, which focus on impact of social agents on user behavior. We talk of social agents as interfaces that act autonomously but are related to the actions of the user. However, to really figure out what social impact these interfaces have on humans, we discuss what characteristics of social agents that should be possible to configure, in order to establish, maintain and develop a fruitful relation with the user. In order to do so, we needed to explore the impact for real users. The exploration of the impact of social agents such as BonzyBuddy the Parrot and Bob, the Paper-clip guy, was done empirically through observations and interviews with users. Based on empirical data collected in the study, a user-agent interaction model was constructed. The model illustrates three dimensions for configuration of social interfaces. Given the interaction model the two agents investigate are discussed followed by a discussion on what implications these observations has for design of social agents. Having identified the need for self-examining and selfadapting social agents and related problems we then conclude the paper and points at some future work

Configuring social agents

Social agents have recently been more frequently used in the user interface. However, so far not many studies have been conducted on what impact such interfaces have on users behavior. This paper discusses this and reports on empirical findings, which focus on impact of social agents on user behavior. We talk of social agents as interfaces that act autonomously but are related to the actions of the user. However, to really figure out what social impact these interfaces have on humans, we discuss what characteristics of social agents that should be possible to configure, in order to establish, maintain and develop a fruitful relation with the user. In order to do so, we needed to explore the impact for real users. The exploration of the impact of social agents such as BonzyBuddy the Parrot and Bob, the Paper-clip guy, was done empirically through observations and interviews with users. Based on empirical data collected in the study, a user-agent interaction model was constructed. The model illustrates three dimensions for configuration of social interfaces. Given the interaction model the two agents investigate are discussed followed by a discussion on what implications these observations has for design of social agents. Having identified the need for self-examining and selfadapting social agents and related problems we then conclude the paper and points at some future work