Article

Interface agents as social models: the impact of appearance on females' attitude toward engineering

Authors:

Amy L. Baylor,

Rinat B. Rosenberg-Kima,

E. Ashby PlantAuthors Info & Claims

CHI EA '06: CHI '06 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 526 - 531

https://doi.org/10.1145/1125451.1125564

Published: 21 April 2006 Publication History

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Abstract

This experimental study investigated the impact of interface agent appearance (age, gender, "coolness") on enhancing undergraduate females' attitudes toward engineering. Results revealed that participants reported more positive stereotypes of engineers after interacting with a female agent. In contrast, participants interacting with a male agent reported that engineering was more useful and engaging. An interaction of "coolness" and age indicated that agents who were young and "cool" (i.e., peer-like; similar to participants) and agents who were old and "uncool" (stereotypical engineers) were both most effective on enhancing self-efficacy toward engineering.

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Cited By

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De Gioannis EPasin GSquazzoni F(2023)Empowering women in STEM: a scoping review of interventions with role modelsInternational Journal of Science Education, Part B10.1080/21548455.2022.216283213:3(261-275)Online publication date: 7-Jan-2023
https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2022.2162832
Sajjadi PZhao JWallgrun JFurman TLa Femina PFatemi AZidik ZKlippel A(2020)The Effect of Virtual Agent Gender and Embodiment on the Experiences and Performance of Students in Virtual Field Trips2020 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE)10.1109/TALE48869.2020.9368457(221-228)Online publication date: 8-Dec-2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE48869.2020.9368457
Tielman MNeerincx Mvan Meggelen MFranken IBrinkman W(2018)How should a virtual agent present psychoeducation? Influence of verbal and textual presentation on adherenceTechnology and Health Care10.3233/THC-17089925:6(1081-1096)Online publication date: 6-Feb-2018
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Index Terms

Interface agents as social models: the impact of appearance on females' attitude toward engineering
1. Applied computing
  1. Law, social and behavioral sciences
    1. Psychology
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI design and evaluation methods

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CHI EA '06: CHI '06 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2006

1914 pages

ISBN:1595932984

DOI:10.1145/1125451

Conference Chair:
Gary Olson
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
,
Program Chair:
Robin Jeffries
Google, USA

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 21 April 2006

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CHI06: CHI 2006 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 22 - 27, 2006

Québec, Montréal, Canada

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Overall Acceptance Rate 6,164 of 23,696 submissions, 26%

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De Gioannis EPasin GSquazzoni F(2023)Empowering women in STEM: a scoping review of interventions with role modelsInternational Journal of Science Education, Part B10.1080/21548455.2022.216283213:3(261-275)Online publication date: 7-Jan-2023
Sajjadi PZhao JWallgrun JFurman TLa Femina PFatemi AZidik ZKlippel A(2020)The Effect of Virtual Agent Gender and Embodiment on the Experiences and Performance of Students in Virtual Field Trips2020 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE)10.1109/TALE48869.2020.9368457(221-228)Online publication date: 8-Dec-2020
Tielman MNeerincx Mvan Meggelen MFranken IBrinkman W(2018)How should a virtual agent present psychoeducation? Influence of verbal and textual presentation on adherenceTechnology and Health Care10.3233/THC-17089925:6(1081-1096)Online publication date: 6-Feb-2018
Scholten MKelders SVan Gemert-Pijnen J(2017)Self-Guided Web-Based Interventions: Scoping Review on User Needs and the Potential of Embodied Conversational Agents to Address ThemJournal of Medical Internet Research10.2196/jmir.735119:11(e383)Online publication date: 16-Nov-2017
Scholten MKelders Svan Gemert-Pijnen J(2017)A Scoped Review of the Potential for Supportive Virtual Coaches as Adjuncts to Self-guided Web-Based InterventionsPersuasive Technology: Development and Implementation of Personalized Technologies to Change Attitudes and Behaviors10.1007/978-3-319-55134-0_4(43-54)Online publication date: 9-Mar-2017
Wuttke MHeidt MRosenthal POhler PMüller N(2016)Proactive Functions of a Pedagogical Agent – Steps for Implementing a Social Catalyst FunctionLearning and Collaboration Technologies10.1007/978-3-319-39483-1_52(573-580)Online publication date: 17-Jul-2016
Fischer K(2016)Designing Speech for a RecipientundefinedOnline publication date: 15-Nov-2016
Hou MBanbury SBurns C(2014)Agent-Based, Interaction-Centered IAS DesignIntelligent Adaptive Systems10.1201/b17742-8(139-180)Online publication date: 5-Nov-2014
Ring LUtami DBickmore T(2014)The Right Agent for the Job?Intelligent Virtual Agents10.1007/978-3-319-09767-1_49(374-384)Online publication date: 2014
Silvervarg AHaake MGulz A(2013)Educational Potentials in Visually Androgynous Pedagogical AgentsArtificial Intelligence in Education10.1007/978-3-642-39112-5_68(599-602)Online publication date: 2013
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Changing Attitudes and Performance with Computer-generated Social Models

The importance of interface agent visual presence: voice alone is less effective in impacting young women's attitudes toward engineering

Interface agents as social models for female students: The effects of agent visual presence and appearance on female students' attitudes and beliefs

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