Paper Number

ICIS2025-1575

Paper Type

Short

Abstract

As conversational agents (CAs) become increasingly embedded in social and emotional domains, users are beginning to attribute not just surface-level human traits but also cognitive and emotional capacities to these systems. This emerging phenomenon, cognitive anthropomorphism, has important implications for how users perceive social presence and form relationships with AI. However, existing research lacks a clear conceptualization and validated measurement of this construct. To address this gap, we present a research protocol that outlines a two-phase study. First, an inductive diary study explores how users perceive cognitive anthropomorphism and social presence during real-world interactions with an AI companion designed to provide social companionship and empathy. Second, we describe the planned development and validation of a standardized measurement instrument. Our research protocol provides a structured foundation for future research into the psychological mechanisms that shape human-AI relational dynamics.

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Dec 14th, 12:00 AM

Mind Meets Machine: Exploring Cognitive Anthropomorphism in Empathetic Conversational Agents

As conversational agents (CAs) become increasingly embedded in social and emotional domains, users are beginning to attribute not just surface-level human traits but also cognitive and emotional capacities to these systems. This emerging phenomenon, cognitive anthropomorphism, has important implications for how users perceive social presence and form relationships with AI. However, existing research lacks a clear conceptualization and validated measurement of this construct. To address this gap, we present a research protocol that outlines a two-phase study. First, an inductive diary study explores how users perceive cognitive anthropomorphism and social presence during real-world interactions with an AI companion designed to provide social companionship and empathy. Second, we describe the planned development and validation of a standardized measurement instrument. Our research protocol provides a structured foundation for future research into the psychological mechanisms that shape human-AI relational dynamics.

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