Fulfilling social needs through anthropomorphic technology? A reflection on existing research and empirical insights of an interview study

Abstract

As interactive technologies, such as chatbots or voice assistants, increasingly become social counterparts and resemble human interaction partners in many ways, the question arises whether they are also able to address users’ social needs. This paper explores whether interaction with technology can address social needs and what role technology anthropomorphism plays in this. While previous research shows somewhat contradictory results potentially related to challenges of applied assessment methods of anthropomorphism and social needs, we complement this by means of a qualitative interview study (n = 8). Our study findings support a potential of anthropomorphic technology to address users’ social needs but also highlight differences between the quality of human-technology and interpersonal interaction. In addition, our findings hint at a social desirability bias, since people see social need fulfillment through technology as silly or inappropriate. Design and societal implications are discussed.Practical Relevance: This article explores the potential of technology to address users’ social needs and discusses practical implications for marketing and design, e.g., how technologies should be designed in order to affect users’ social needs and which contexts of application might be suitable. Moreover, the article also reflects on societal implications resulting from a potential effect of interaction with technology on users’ social needs.