Despite the fact that the science fiction film “Her,” which was released less than ten years ago, featured the seemingly impossible idea of human-chatbot interactions, recent study indicates that virtual love may now be in the air. The authors of the study describe “romantic anthropomorphism,” the process by which users of romantic video games (RVGs) give human characteristics to “artificial actors” and establish relationships that seem real.
The researchers conclude that “the yearning to love and to be loved is a lasting, universal element of human psyche.” For the majority of human history, another person was necessary to satisfy this need—someone who could love and be loved in return. A virtual agent today could be able to meet this need.
The authors of the paper explain how chatbots “play an increasingly vital role in our modern society” by citing well-known digital assistants like Alexa, Cortana, and Siri. And while it’s unlikely that anyone will fall in love with a customer care bot, some of the more advanced virtual agents may now be able to participate in dating.
A male-focused RVG named LovePlus, for instance, “was so successful that some males reported falling in love with their virtual girlfriends, even to the point of preferring them to actual women,” according to the study. The writers continue by noting that there are currently 50 million RVG players worldwide, underscoring the genre’s expanding appeal.
Three lab-based tests were carried out by the researchers to learn more about romantic anthropomorphism. In the first of these studies, 61 heterosexual women participated in an RVG named Castaway before answering questions about how much they gave chatbots human characteristics and how real their virtual relationship felt.
The findings showed that “more romantic anthropomorphism was related to higher emotions of relationship authenticity with the virtual agent, which ultimately predicted increased desire for a relationship with the virtual agent in the real world.”
The second experiment used a larger cohort of 104 women and the exact same technique, but they participated in an RVG called Choices: Stories You Play. This exercise’s outcomes “exactly duplicated” those of the initial trial.
The study’s lead author, Mayu Koike, said in a statement that the results “suggest that it is not anthropomorphism per se—there is no reliable direct link between anthropomorphism and outcomes—but rather how anthropomorphism feeds through relationship authenticity that predicts a desire for a real-world relationship with a virtual agent and positive mood. “To put it simply, anthropomorphism fosters the perception of genuineness in interpersonal interactions. In turn, developing a close relationship with agents requires relational honesty.
The entire process was then replicated with a third group of 78 single heterosexual women, but this time the researchers wanted to know how online dating influences actual courtship. After playing an RVG for five minutes, scientists observed participants as they interacted with “an attractive male confederate” to gather information.
No changes in flirtatiousness, however, were seen, indicating that virtual love might not affect actual romance.
Previous studies have shown that lonely persons are more likely to humanise non-human objects, such as Tom Hanks and his companion Wilson in the movie Castaway. The authors of the study draw the conclusion that “it is improbable that simply believing that an entity is human-like can make a person feel less lonely” in light of these new findings.
The interaction that this supposed human-like creature provides is more likely what makes people feel less alone.
