\u201cMost romantic relationship research has been focused on human-human social domains, and most previous anthropomorphism research has concentrated on platonic anthropomorphism. Our research helps to cultivate a new field bridging the gap between anthropomorphism and relationship science,\u201d said\u00a0Mayu Koike, an assistant professor at the\u00a0Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences<\/a>, Hiroshima University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Virtual agents are playing a more vital role in our modern world. A virtual agent, also called a virtual rep or chatbot, is a software application that uses natural language processing and scripted answers to provide support to humans online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Typically, virtual agents replace human labor, but as these agents become more complex, they are being used in other ways. People\u2019s romantic lives are an important social domain where virtual agents have a growing involvement. The human need to love and be loved is universal. For most of human history, this meant another person \u2013 someone to love and love back. But today, it is possible for a virtual agent to fulfill this need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romantic video games contain virtual characters who are increasingly interactive and responsive. These games, which provide millions of people with the opportunity to pursue, nurture and enjoy a romantic relationship with a virtual agent, are growing in popularity. Despite the rapid growth in popularity of these games, researchers had not yet systematically investigated these virtual romances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As virtual agents become more complex and interactive, humans may come to view them as essentially like other humans. If so, then relationships with these virtual agents might feel real and authentic, leading humans to experience positive emotions and have a desire to continue the relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To better understand and explore this concept called anthropomorphism, the research team undertook laboratory studies, using romantic video games to examine how romantic anthropomorphism predicts relationship authenticity, desire for real-world relationships, and mood, as well as real-world interpersonal behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their first laboratory study revealed that the romantic anthropomorphism of a virtual agent predicted a person\u2019s desire for a real-world relationship with the virtual agent and a greater positive effect via feeling that the relationship built with the virtual agent was authentic. In their second study, they replicated the results of the first study, using a larger sample and a different romantic video game. Their third study replicated the results of the first two studies but revealed that playing romantic video games failed to predict real-world behavior in a later interaction with a human research actor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The core pathway uncovered across these three studies revealed that anthropomorphism is linked with outcomes when people feel that their connection and relationship with the virtual agent was genuine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis finding suggests that it is not anthropomorphism per se\u2014there is no reliable direct link between anthropomorphism and outcomes\u2014but rather how anthropomorphism feeds through relationship authenticity that predicts a desire for a real-world relationship with a virtual agent and positive mood. Putting it simply, anthropomorphism creates the feeling of authenticity in relationships. In turn, relationship authenticity is meaningful to build a strong bond with agents,\u201d said Koike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The team\u2019s research identifies a unique way that people find a connection in the modern world and provides novel insight into the fields of anthropomorphism, virtual interactions, and relationship science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking ahead the team suggests that future research could systematically vary the extent to which a romantic interest is likely to elicit anthropomorphism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis presents an important future direction for this field. Also, it would be beneficial for future research to examine whether personality traits or other individual differences influence whether people engage in romantic anthropomorphism,\u201d said Koike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Researchers have introduced the concept of romantic anthropomorphism\u2014 which involves giving a non-human agent human-like characteristics in a romantic context. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",736,491,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance-200x200.png",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance-600x400.png",600,400,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",736,491,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance-675x450.png",675,450,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",736,491,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",736,491,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",736,491,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",736,491,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance-600x491.png",600,491,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance-600x491.png",600,491,true],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",735,490,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance-550x360.png",550,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance-95x65.png",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",640,427,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",96,64,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance.png",150,100,false]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"Entertainment<\/a> News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/vitual-romance-675x450.png\" "\\"\\"")
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