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Cultural Variation in Attitudes Toward Social Chatbots
Dunigan P Folk1, Chenxi Wu1, Steven J Heine1
1The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
|March 31, 2025
Summary
Cultural differences impact social bonding with conversational AI. East Asian individuals show greater acceptance and anthropomorphism towards AI chatbots compared to those with European backgrounds.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Cultural Studies
Background:
- Growing prevalence of conversational AI necessitates understanding user attitudes.
- Previous research has not extensively explored cultural variations in human-AI social bonding.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate cultural differences in attitudes towards social bonding with conversational AI.
- To examine the role of anthropomorphism in mediating these cultural differences.
Main Methods:
- Two studies were conducted with a total of 1,659 participants.
- Study 1 involved university students comparing East Asian and European backgrounds.
- Study 2 compared Chinese and Japanese adults in East Asia with US adults, measuring attitudes and anthropomorphism.
Main Results:
- East Asian participants reported higher enjoyment and approval of social bonding with chatbots compared to human interaction.
- Similar cultural differences were observed between East Asian and US samples.
- The tendency to anthropomorphize technology explained the observed cultural variations in attitudes.
Conclusions:
- Significant cultural variability exists in attitudes toward conversational AI.
- Anthropomorphism is a key factor mediating cultural differences in human-AI social bonding.
- Findings highlight the importance of cultural context in the design and adoption of AI technologies.
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