Towards Understanding How Virtual Human's Verbal Persuasion Strategies Influence User Intentions To Perform Health Behavior

Abstract

This paper investigates how a virtual human's persuasion attempts influence the user's intentions to perform the recommended behaviors using the Theory of Planned Behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior suggests that users' attitudes towards the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control determine user intentions to perform behaviors. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, we identify the underlying mechanisms of how users' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control influence the effectiveness of virtual human's persuasive attempts on user's intentions to perform the behavior. To identify the underlying mechanisms, we conducted an online study with 202 college students. In a between-subjects study, a virtual human persuaded students to use a mental health coping skill using six different persuasion strategies. We present evidence that persuasion strategies influenced the students' perceived behavior control, which further influenced the user intentions to perform the behavior. Additionally, the paper also shows that user personality influenced the effect of persuasion strategies on students' perceived behavior control. This knowledge of underlying mechanisms of how virtual human's persuasion attempts to influence users' intentions to perform the recommended behavior can help in designing effective intelligent virtual humans for persuasion.