CAN COMPUTER PERSONALITIES BE HUMAN PERSONALITIES

The claim that computer personalities can be human personalities was t ested by demonstrating that (1) computer personalities can be easily c reated using a minimal set of cues, and (2) that people will respond t o these personalities in the same way they would respond to similar hu man personalities. The present study focused on the ''similarity-attra ction hypothesis,'' which predicts that people will prefer to interact with others who are similar in personality. In a 2 x 2, balanced, bet ween-subjects experiment (n = 48), dominant and submissive subjects we re randomly matched with a computer that was endowed with the properti es associated with dominance or submissiveness. Subjects recognized th e computer's personality type, distinct from friendliness and competen ce. In addition, subjects not only preferred the similar computer, but they were more satisfied with the interaction. The findings demonstra te that personality does not require richly defined agents, sophistica ted pictorial representations, nautral language processing, or artific ial intelligence. Rather, even the most superficial manipulations are sufficient to exhibit personality, with powerful effects. (C) Academic Press Limited