Using persuasive technology to promote sustainable behavior in smart home environments

Sustainable living is to a large extent the outcome of how consumers use the technology surrounding them. Seen from this perspective the rather strict separation of technological and behavioral solution is not only artificial but also detrimental to finding real sustainable solutions. Persuasive technology aims to intervene in these user-system interactions by using intelligent agents to change human attitudes and behavior. Embodied agents like robots and avatars go beyond the function of a simple tool by adopting social behavior that allows for social influence on human users. In addition intelligent systems can provide experiences that are impossible in the physical reality and which may enable experiences that promote more adequate reactions to future and distant climate risks

Living behind dikes : a simulated flood experience

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The illusion of agency : The influence of the agency of an artificial agent on its persuasive power

Abstract. Artificial social agents can influence people. However, artificial social agents are not real humans, and people may ascribe less agency to them. Would the persuasive power of a social robot diminish when people ascribe only little agency to it? To investigate this question, we performed an experiment in which participants performed tasks on a washing machine and received feedback from a robot about their energy consumption (e.g., "Your energy consumption is too high"), or factual, non-social feedback. This robot was introduced to participants as (a) an avatar (that was controlled a human in all its feedback actions; high agency), or as (b) an autonomous robot (that controlled its own feedback actions; moderate agency), or as (c) a robot that produced only random feedback; low agency). Results indicated that participants consumed less energy when a robotic social agent gave them feedback than when they received non-social feedback. This behavioral effect was independent of the level of robotic agency. In contrast, a perceived agency measure indicated that the random feedback robot was ascribed the lowest agency rating. These results suggest that the persuasive power of robot behavior is independent of the extent to which the persuadee explicitly ascribes agency to the agent

Persuasive agents : the role of agent embodiment and evaluative feedback

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Ambient persuasion needs goal-striving: the effect of goal activation on the persuasive power of subliminal feedback

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Persuasive agents : the role of agent embodiment and evaluative feedback

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