Towards building a virtual counselor: modeling nonverbal behavior during intimate self-disclosure

Abstract

Nonverbal behavior is considered critical for indicating intimacy and is important when designing a social virtual agent such as a counselor. One key research question is how to properly express intimate self-disclosure. In this paper we present an extensive study of human nonverbal behavior during intimate self-disclosure. This is an important milestone in creating a virtual counselor. A study of video interactions between human participants demonstrated that people display more head tilts and pauses when they revealed highly intimate information about themselves; they presented more head nods and eye gazes during less intimate sharing. An implementation of these behaviors in a virtual agent suggests that people tend to perceive head tilts, pauses and gaze aversion by the agent as conveying intimate self-disclosure. These findings are important for future research with virtual counselors and other social agents.