Virtual Humans Elicit Skin-Tone Bias Consistent with Real-World Skin-Tone Biases

Authors:
Brent Rossen;Kyle Johnsen;Adeline Deladisma;Scott Lind;Benjamin Lok
Affiliations:
CISE University of Florida, Gainesville, USA FL 32611;CISE University of Florida, Gainesville, USA FL 32611;Dept. of Surgery Oncology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, USA GA 30912;Dept. of Surgery Oncology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, USA GA 30912;CISE University of Florida, Gainesville, USA FL 32611
Venue:
IVA '08 Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents
Year:
2008

Citing 3
Cited 4

Virtual environment cultural training for operational readiness (VECTOR)

Virtual Reality
Looking at human-computer interface design: Effects of ethnicity in computer agents

Interacting with Computers
Virtual Patients for Clinical Therapist Skills Training

IVA '07 Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents

"It doesn't matter what you are!" Explaining social effects of agents and avatars

Computers in Human Behavior
How our personality shapes our interactions with virtual characters: implications for research and development

IVA'10 Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Intelligent virtual agents
The impact of linguistic and cultural congruity on persuasion by conversational agents

IVA'10 Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Intelligent virtual agents
Does humanity matter? analyzing the importance of social cues and perceived agency of a computer system for the emergence of social reactions during human-computer interaction

Advances in Human-Computer Interaction

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

In this paper, we present results from a study that shows that a dark skin-tone VH agent elicits user behavior consistent with real world skin-tone biases. Results from a study with medical students (n=21), show participant empathy towards a dark skin-tone VH patient was predicted by their measured bias towards African-Americans. Real world bias was measured using a validated psychological instrument called the implicit association test (IAT). Scores on the IAT were significantly correlated to coders' ratings of participant empathy. This result indicates that VHs elicit realistic responses and could become an important component in cultural diversity training.