Explication of social cues on persuasive robots for mental health support among Malaysian youth

Abstract

Many people with mental health issues suffer from stress, which eventually can lead to depression if no intervention steps are taken. Physical activities such as exercise and sports are the most common advice given by therapists to remedy the issue due to their effectiveness. However, the lack of motivation and mismanaged priorities in daily life has hindered many from getting the benefits of a healthy routine. Social robots have been shown to be a great assistive tool to encourage a healthier lifestyle. However, social cues are typically not the focus of studies involving the use of social robots despite evidence suggesting their impact. To help solve these issues, the current research aims to design effective social cues for persuasive robots in motivating and persuading Malaysian youth to do make healthier choices to reduce the risk of mental health problems, specifically stress. This research investigates the influence of language coerciveness and social praises (as social cues) of persuasive robots on social responses by Malaysian youths. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to four separate groups and were asked to play a decision-making game related to exercise. A social robot employing high or low controlling language and with or without social praises were assigned to each of the four groups, depending on the assigned social cues modality (high controlling language with social praise, low controlling language without social praise, etc.). An analysis was conducted and discussed on the perceived social responses, correlations between responses and compliance. The findings suggest that the applied social cues have no effect on compliance with the robot’s suggestions. Using statistical analysis, the results demonstrated significant, strong correlations between several social responses, including liking and beliefs. Additionally, a robot with high-controlling language without any social praise was perceived as useful in making decisions. Overall, regardless of the social cues used by the robots, Malaysian youth perceived the robot positively in making persuasive decisions in terms of liking, trusting beliefs, and the intention to use the robot again in the future. This study is crucial to support people in having a better quality of life assisted by social robots, and importantly, to help prevent the occurrence of serious mental illness that can lead to depression.