Am I Talking to a Real Person? Experimental Investigations into Human Perceptions of Therapeutic Chatbots.

James Cook University
Role

Collaborator

Description

Therapeutic chatbots could enhance the accessibility of psychological treatments, reducing wait times and costs; yet questions remain about user acceptance. Millet et al. (2023) highlight biases against AI-generated art, suggesting a similar bias may exist for perceptions of therapeutic chatbots. This program of experimental research will investigate whether therapeutic communications are perceived as less empathetic when attributed to therapeutic chatbots, as opposed to humans, across three populations: the general community; therapists/counsellors; and mental health app users. This research will inform future integration of chatbots into digital interventions, including their suitability across different contexts, and highlight targets for improved user experience.

Date

01 Jun 2024

Project Type

INTERNAL_RESARCH_GRANT

Keywords

N/A

Funding Body

James Cook University

Amount

6991.4

Project Team

N/A