Now, a few years back, I was having a barbecue with friends and family. As usual, we talked about the weather, the good food or TV shows to watch. So nothing out of the ordinary until one attendee casually mentioned that he and his wife hadn't had sex in a long time. As you can imagine, what followed was an awkward silence. Until a six-year-old boy attending the barbecue with his parents blurted out that his parents had lots of sex and he could hear them all the time. And then the barbecue continued as if nothing had happened.
Hai uns anos, estaba facendo unha barbacoa con amigos e parentes. Coma de costume, falabamos do tempo, da comida e do que botaban na tele. Nada fóra do normal ata que un dos convidados mencionou como de pasada que a súa muller e máis el levaban moito sen ter relacións. Como imaxinaredes, o que seguiu foi un incómodo silencio. Entón un neno de seis anos que viñera cos pais soltou que os seus pais facíano moitísimo e que el os oía todo o tempo. E a barbacoa continuou como se non pasase nada.
Now, when I'm not having barbecues, I am researching how people interact with each other and how that transfers to their interactions with technologies, so not all too surprisingly, after this very unique social interaction at the barbecue, I was left wondering why we, the audience, were so greatly ignoring what the adult so openly shared with us that evening. So why the silence and then the laughter at the boy's comment? Well, both of them were breaking a social rule: never talk about sex, money or politics at a dinner table. We assume that an adult knows this rule and sticks to it. So when such expectations are broken, we sanction the offender accordingly -- in our case, with ignorance. When a child, however, breaks such a rule, we attribute this to their naive understanding of our social manners and up to a certain age at least, do not openly sanction them for it.
Cando non estou facendo barbacoas, estou investigando como interactúan as persoas e como iso se transfire ás interaccións coas tecnoloxías, así que, como era de esperar, tras esa singular interacción social da barbacoa, quedei a pensar por que nós, a audiencia, ignoramos de forma tan clara o que o adulto compartiu abertamente. Por que o silencio e logo as gargalladas diante do comentario do neno? Ao cabo, ámbolos dous estaban a romper unha norma social: na mesa non se fala de sexo, cartos ou política. Damos por sentado que un adulto coñece e respeta esa norma. Cando non se cumpre esa expectativa, sancionamos ao infractor como corresponde: no noso caso, ignorándoo. En cambio, cando un neno rompe a norma, atribuímolo á súa inxenuidade no que fai ás convencións sociais e, ao menos ata certa idade, non o sancionamos abertamente.
Clearly, there is no official rule book for socially appropriate behaviors or even socially accepted dinner topics. In fact, our social norms are usually unwritten codes of conduct, and they change over time as we as a society change and learn. Less than a year ago, for instance, it was considered impolite not to shake hands when introducing yourself to someone. A few months and the worldwide spread of the coronavirus later and shaking hands may be something to be frowned upon and maybe even a thing of the past.
Está claro que non hai normas oficiais sobre a conduta socialmente apropiada ou sobre os temas de conversa aceptables na mesa. De feito, as normas sociais adoitan ser códigos de conduta non escritos que van mudando a medida que nós mudamos e aprendemos como sociedade. Hai menos dun ano, por exemplo, considerábase de mala educación non dar a man cando te presentabas. Uns meses e unha epidemia de coronavirus máis tarde, dar a man pode estar mal visto ou mesmo ser un costume doutro tempo.
The way we learn these social rules then is mostly by social rewards and social punishments. Now, as social animals, we aim for social approval and want to avoid other's disapproval. So we act in a way that is socially accepted and present ourselves in a socially desirable way to others. So we want to be seen as an individual that is smart, successful, sporty and active, creative, empathic and possibly all that at once. Now, through social media, our strive for social approval, and with it, our need for self-presentation and perfection has skyrocketed.
Aprendemos estas normas sociais esencialmente a base de premios e castigos sociais. Como animais sociais, buscamos a aprobación e fuximos da desaprobación dos demais. Así que actuamos dun modo socialmente aceptable e presentámonos ante os demais de forma socialmente desexable. Queremos que nos vexan como individuos intelixentes, triunfadores, deportistas, activos, creativos, empáticos ou mesmo todo iso á vez. A través das redes sociais, o noso afán por obter aprobación social e a conseguinte necesidade de presentarnos e de ser perfectos disparouse.
Clearly, there is a flip side to all of this. In any social interaction, we do not only look for others' approval, but we also constantly fear other's disapproval when we cannot live up to their expectations. Just consider an adult with incontinence problems or a drug addiction. If he or she had to talk to a health care professional, what would you expect to find? Or if a soldier returned from combat and had to talk about their fears or problems, do you think they would open up easily?
Como é lóxico, todo isto ten un lado negativo. En cada interacción social, non só buscamos a aprobación senón que tememos constantemente a desaprobación dos demais cando non estamos á altura das súas expectativas. Pensade, por exemplo, nun adulto con problemas de incontinencia ou adicción ás drogas. Se esa persoa ten que falar cun profesional da saúde, que esperaríades? Ou se un soldado que regresa dunha misión de combate tivese que comentar os seus medos e problemas, pensades que lle resultaría fácil falar?
A team of USC researchers examined just that. So they looked at the data from the US Army. Traditionally, soldiers had to be interviewed by a human health care professional when returning from combat to check if everything is OK. Now, interestingly, the researchers found that soldiers hardly reported any problems after their returns. Surely many of them were truly fine, but the researchers also suspected that many soldiers did not dare to share their problems openly. After all, soldiers are trained to be strong and brave individuals that learn not to show any weaknesses. So openly admitting to have health problems, to have trouble sleeping or to have nightmares is not something easy to do for soldiers. The question then ultimately becomes how can we help individuals open up more easily and worry less about the judgment of others? Well, remember what I said earlier. We expect social evaluation in any social interaction. So how about we remove the social from the interaction? This is exactly what the team in the US did. In fact, they developed a virtual interviewer called SimSensei.
Na Universidade de Southern California investigaron precisamente iso. Analizaron os datos do exército norteamericano. Tradicionalmente, os soldados tiñan que entrevistarse cun membro do persoal médico ao voltaren das súas misións, para comprobar que todo estaba ben. Curiosamente, os investigadores descubriron que apenas informaban de problemas tras o seu retorno. Seguro que moitos estaban perfectamente, pero os investigadores sospeitaban que moitos soldados non se atrevían a falar abertamente dos seus problemas. Despois de todo, entrénanos para ser individuos fortes e valentes que aprendan a non mostrarse vulnerables. Así que admitir abertamente que ten problemas de saúde, que non dorme ben ou ten pesadelos, non é doado para un soldado. En última instancia, a cuestión é entón como axudarmos aos individuos a abrírense con máis facilidade e preocupárense menos polos xuízos dos demais. Lembrade o que dixen antes. Agardamos avaliación social en calquera interacción social. Pero, e se eliminamos o social da interacción? Iso exactamente foi o que fixeron estes investigadores. Crearon un entrevistador virtual chamado SlimSensei.
So SimSensei is a digital avatar that has a humanlike appearance and can interact with clients through natural conversations. Now, when returning from combat, soldiers were now interviewed by the digital avatar instead of that human health care professional. And what happened? Well, once SimSensei was introduced, soldiers reported more health problems, like having nightmares or trouble sleeping. So machines can help remove the social from the equation and help people open up more easily.
SlimSensei é un avatar dixital de aspecto humano que pode interactuar cos clientes nunha conversa espontánea. Así que, ao voltar dunha misión, os soldados entrevistábanse co avatar dixital no canto de facelo co personal médico. E que aconteceu? Pois cando lles presentaban a SlimSensei, so soldados informaban de máis problemas de saúde, como pesadelos ou dificultade para durmir. As máquinas axudan a eliminar o social da ecuación e facilitan que as persoas se abran.
But careful, not all machines are created equal. Considering the tremendous advancements in technologies like computer graphics or natural language processing, machines have become increasingly humanlike. The question then ultimately becomes, which rules do we apply in these interactions? Do we still apply social rules when we interact with humanlike machines? So do we start to worry about social judgment again? This is exactly what I examine in my research.
Pero coidado, non todas as máquinas son creadas iguais. Se nos fixamos nos enormes avances en tecnoloxías como a infografía ou o procesamento da linguaxe natural, as máquinas parécense cada vez máis aos humanos. En definitiva, a cuestión pasa a ser que regras aplicamos nestas interaccións? Seguimos aplicando as normas sociais con esas máquinas de aspecto humano? E entón volvemos preocuparnos polos xuizos sociais? Isto é precisamente o que estudo nas miñas investigacións.
Together with colleagues, we have developed a series of chatbots. These chatbots were programmed to simulate text-based conversations and they were designed to be either very social and humanlike or very functional and machine-like. So, for instance, our humanlike bots use so-called speed disfluencies and social language cues, like these "ohos", "ahas", "hmms" we humans love to use in our conversations to signal our presence to conversation partners. In contrast, our machine-like bots lacked such social cues and simply kept to the talking points. Since we were interested in how much people would open up in these different conversations, we ask participants a number of questions, which gradually grew more and more personal, up to the point where we would ask participants to share possibly very delicate information about themselves.
Os meus colegas e máis eu creamos unha serie de bots de conversa. Estes bots estaban programados para simular conversas escritas e estaban deseñados para ser moi sociais e parecerse aos humanos ou moi funcionais como as máquinas. Por exemplo, os bots humanizados cometen fallos de fluidez e usan sinais lingüísticos sociais, como eses “ajá“, “mmm” que os humanos usamos moito nas nosas conversas para indicar a nosa presenza aos outros participantes. En cambio, os bots máis mecánicos carecían deses sinais sociais e cinguíanse ao tema de discusión. Dado que nos interesaba ver canto se soltaban as persoas nas distintas conversas, facíamoslles aos participantes unha serie de preguntas, que eran cada vez máis persoais, ata o punto de pedirlles que compartisen detalles posiblemente delicados sobre si mesmos.
Now, considering the findings from prior research, such as the one from the US Army before, we expected that people would apply more social rules in their interactions with these humanlike bots and act accordingly. So what did we find? Well, exactly that. So participants interacting with our humanlike bots were more concerned about social evaluation and as a result of this social apprehension, they also gave more socially desirable responses.
Tendo en conta os resultados de investigacións previas, como a dos soldados norteamericanos, esperabamos que as persoas aplicasen máis normas sociais nas súas interaccións cos bots humanizados e actuasen en consecuencia. E que descubrimos? Pois precisamente iso. Os participantes que interactuaban cos nosos bots humanizados estaban máis preocupados pola avaliación social e, como consecuencia desta aprehensión social, as súas respostas eran tamén máis socialmente desexables.
Let me give you an example. One of the most delicate questions that we asked participants was the number of prior sex partners they had had. When interacting with our humanlike bot, men reported to have significantly more prior sex partners and women reported to have significantly less than those men and women interacting with our mechanistic bot. So what does this all tell us? Well, first, men want to look good by having more prior sex partners and women by having less. Clearly, this already says a lot about what the different sexes consider socially desirable and how our expectations in society still differ across genders. But this opens up a whole new topic that I will better leave for other experts to discuss.
Vouvos poñer un exemplo. Unha das preguntas máis delicadas que lles faciamos era o número de parellas sexuais previas. Cando interactuaban cos nosos bots humanizados, os homes declaraban un número significativamente maior de parellas e as mulleres un número significativamente menor cós homes e mulleres que interactuaban cos bots máis mecánicos. Que nos di todo isto? Primeiro, que os homes queren quedar ben tendo máis parellas sexuais previas e as mulleres, tendo menos. Está claro que isto xa di moito sobre o que cada sexo entende como socialmente desexable e sobre como as nosas expectativas sociais seguen a diferir segundo o xénero. Pero isto lévanos a outro tema totalmente distinto que prefiro deixarlles a outros expertos.
Second, and maybe more importantly, from a consumer psychology perspective. People open up more easily when they interact with machines that are apparently just that -- machines. Today, a lot of sweat, money and tears is put into making machines basically indistinguishable from us. Now, this research can show that sometimes letting a machine be a machine is actually a good thing.
Segundo, se cadra máis importante, desde a psicoloxía do consumidor. As persoas sóltanse máis facilmente cando interactúan con máquinas que parecen ser só iso: máquinas. Hoxe, moita suor, cartos e bágoas invístense en construír máquinas practicamente idénticas a nós. Pero esta investigación demostra que ás veces, en realidade, é bo que unha máquina sexa unha máquina.
Which brings me to my third point. These machine interactions have been highly criticized at times. So you may have heard that Siri, Alexa or others make your kids rude or impolite. Hopefully, this research can show you a great upside of these machine interactions. In times of social media and our constant hunt for the next “like,” machines can give us grownups -- help us find that inner child again and give our constant need for self-presentation and perfection a time-out. For once, we do not need to worry if the number of prior sex partners is too high or too low, and instead it is OK to simply be who we are.
Isto lévame ao meu terceiro punto. Estas interaccións coas máquinas reciben moitas críticas en ocasións. Se cadra escoitastes algunha vez que Siri, Alexa ou outras converten aos vosos fillos nuns maleducados. Con sorte, esta investigación demostrará un importante aspecto positivo destas interaccións coas máquinas. Nestes tempos de redes sociais e constante busca doutro “Gústame”, as máquinas poden aportarnos aos adultos, axudarnos a reencontrar ese neno interior e darlle á nosa constante necesidade de presentarnos e ser perfectos un respiro. Por unha vez, non temos que preocuparnos por se o número de parellas previas é demasiado alto ou demasiado baixo, e, no canto diso, está ben ser simplemente quen somos.
Ultimately, then, I think that these machines can remind us of a central element of what makes a good conversation partner: being nonjudgmental. so the next time you might encounter a unique social situation like mine at the barbecue, try to be less judgmental when another person openly shares their thoughts, feelings and problems with you. Many machines do this already, and maybe so should we.
En última instancia, penso que estas máquinas poden lembrarnos unha característica esencial do bo conversador: non xulga ao interlocutor. Así que a próxima vez que vos atopedes nunha situación social única como a que vivín eu naquela barbacoa, tratade de ser menos críticos cando outra persoa comparte abertamente os seus pensamentos, sentimentos ou problemas con vós. Moitas máquinas xa fan así e se cadra nós tamén deberiamos.
Thank you very much.
Moitas grazas.