Purpose Conversational agents (chatbots, avatars and robots) are increasingly substituting
human employees in service encounters. Their presence offers many potential benefits, but …

Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are increasingly used in healthcare and other
settings to improve self-management and provide companionship. Their ability to form close …

In this chapter, we provide a review of conversational agents (CAs), discussing chatbots,
intended for casual conversation with a user, as well as task-oriented agents that generally …

Research on the psychology of humor indicates that humor can increase the impact of
persuasive messages in certain circumstances, suggesting that virtual agents could use …

Previous studies have highlighted the benefits of pedagogical conversational agents using
socially-oriented conversation with students. In this work, we examine the effects of a …

Collaboration in a group has the potential to achieve more effective solutions for challenging
problems, but collaboration per se is not an easy task, rather a stressful burden if the …

Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) show promise for use as companions in emotional
support applications, although real world uptake can be low. Incorporating closeness …

Although some scientists might disagree about the exact role and importance of emotions in
our daily lives, virtually all people (including scientists) admit to occa sionally experiencing …

Thanks to a remarkably great ability to show amusement and engagement, laughter is one
of the most important social markers in human interactions. Laughing together can actually …

Humor is an inevitable part of human life. Most of us are capable of experiencing and
appreciating humor. From this perspective, surprisingly little HCI research can be found …