Gelotophobia and the challenges of implementing laughter into virtual agents interactions

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Artificial Intelligence

Background:

• Gelotophobia, the fear of being laughed at, influences social interactions and perceptions.
• Virtual agents (AVATARs) are increasingly used in various applications, necessitating an understanding of their emotional expressiveness.
• Previous research has not systematically explored how specific AVATAR laughter features are perceived by individuals with and without gelotophobia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate which features of AVATAR laughter are perceived as threatening or malicious by individuals with and without gelotophobia.
• To identify modality-specific (facial, auditory, body movement) laughter characteristics that elicit maliciousness.
• To provide design guidelines for creating AVATAR laughter that is less threatening for gelotophobic individuals.

Main Methods:

• An online study involving 123 adults who completed the GELOPH (fear of laughter scale).
• Participants rated videos of AVATAR laughter (animated faces, synthesized voices, motion-captured bodies) on scales of maliciousness, friendliness, and realness.
• Qualitative data was collected through an open-ended question about perceived laughter markers.

Main Results:

• Features perceived as malicious were identified across all AVATAR laughter modalities, with some being specific to gelotophobia.
• For facial expressions, medium intensity laughs were most malicious to gelotophobes.
• Auditory cues like fundamental frequency modulations and intensity variations, and body movements such as rocking and jerking, indicated maliciousness. Lip curling was perceived as malicious by non-gelotophobes, while eye movements were seen as friendly, with opposite perceptions for gelotophobes.

Conclusions:

• AVATAR laughter design should consider gelotophobia-specific perceptions to avoid eliciting fear or discomfort.
• To create less threatening AVATARs for gelotophobic individuals, laughter should be high intensity, variable, fast, and include specific lip and eye movements.
• AVATARs should avoid features indicating vocal or bodily down-regulation or voluntary modulation to appear less malicious.