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Article In: Interaction Studies: Online-First Articles

Low agency in reported negative events increases empathic response but decreases memory of AI-generated avatars

A research report

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Abstract
Listening to emotional accounts typically induces an empathic response in a recipient, with the degree of empathy determined by situational features, particularly emotional valence and, presumably, the agency of the narrator in the event. To investigate the role of valence and agency further, I present the results of a study in which 52 participants rated their empathic and emotional reactions to AI-generated avatars narrating a brief account of a positive or negative life event, differing in the degree to which the narrator was responsible for the outcome of the event. In addition, participants completed a recognition task. Consistent with previous studies, emotional valence modulated the ratings, but also agency influenced empathic responding. Interestingly, lower agency elicited the strongest empathic response but resulted in the lowest recognition rate in the subsequent memory task. More generally, this study illustrates the application of AI-generated stimuli in research on social interaction and interpersonal behaviour.
Article outline
  • Event characteristics modulating empathic responding
  • Using dynamic AI-Generated stimuli in social-cognitive research
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Materials and design
    • Procedure
    • Statistical analyses
  • Results
    • Means and standard deviations
    • Linear mixed-effects models
    • Estimated marginal means for recognition
    • Exploratory analysis
  • Discussion
  • References
References (32)
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