Striking an Emotional Chord: Effects of Emotional Appeals and Chatbot Anthropomorphism on Persuasive Science Communication

Chatbots have been used to achieve persuasive goals in various communication contexts. This research investigates how chatbot anthropomorphism intersects with emotional appeals to influence persuasive outcomes in science communication by conducting two experiments in the contexts of skin cancer prev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience communication Vol. 45; no. 4; pp. 485 - 511
Main Authors Wang, Jinping, Peng, Lulu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2023
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Biodiversity
Chatbots
Fear
Risk perception
Wildlife conservation
persuasion
anthropomorphism
chatbot
emotional appeals
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Summary:Chatbots have been used to achieve persuasive goals in various communication contexts. This research investigates how chatbot anthropomorphism intersects with emotional appeals to influence persuasive outcomes in science communication by conducting two experiments in the contexts of skin cancer prevention and biodiversity conservation. The findings showed a matching effect between emotional appeals and anthropomorphic cues: For a chatbot with more anthropomorphic cues, fear appeals were more persuasive than hope appeals; in contrast, for a less anthropomorphic chatbot, hope appeals were more effective. A key psychological mechanism underlying the relationships was personal risk perceptions but only for fear appeals.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1075-5470
1552-8545
DOI:10.1177/10755470231194583