Modeling parallel and reactive empathy in virtual agents: an inductive approach

Humans continuously assess one another's situational context, modify their own affective state, and then respond based on these outcomes through empathetic expression. Virtual agents should be capable of similarly empathizing with users in interactive environments. A key challenge posed by empathetic reasoning in virtual agents is determining whether to respond with parallel or reactive empathy. Parallel empathy refers to mere replication of another's affective state, whereas reactive empathy exhibits greater cognitive awareness and may lead to incongruent emotional responses (i.e., emotions different from the recipient's and perhaps intended to alter negative affect). Because empathy is not yet sufficiently well understood, it is unclear as to which type of empathy is most effective and under what circumstances they should be applied. Devising empirically informed models of empathy from observations of "empathy in action" may lead to virtual agents that can a...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: ATAL
• Authors: Scott W. McQuiggan, Jennifer L. Robison, Robert Phillips, James C. Lester
• Keywords: ATAL 2008, Intelligent Agents, Parallel Empathy Refers, Reactive Empathy, Virtual Agent