Skip to main content

The Influence of Anthropomorphism on the User Experience of Digital Products

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Cross-Cultural Design (HCII 2024)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14699))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 522 Accesses

Abstract

Nowadays, the user experience of products is very important, and anthropomorphism is widely used in product design, but it may also cause negative effects if used improperly. From the perspective of human-computer interaction, this paper constructs a moderated mediation model, designs and implements two studies, discusses the impact of anthropomorphism on the user experience of digital products, and analyzes its internal psychological mechanism and applicable conditions. The research results show that: In general, anthropomorphism can improve the user experience of digital products, and psychological distance plays a mediating role. Product type and belongingness need moderate this relationship, but there are some differences in 4 dimensions of user experience. The conclusion of this paper can help designers use anthropomorphism more pertinently.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, K.A., Gray, D.L., Baumeister, R.F., Leary, M.R.: The need to belong: a deep dive into the origins, implications, and future of a foundational construct. Educ. Psychol. Rev. 34(2), 1133–1156 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baddoura, R., Venture, G.: Social vs. useful HRI: experiencing the familiar, perceiving the robot as a sociable partner and responding to its actions. Int. J. Soc. Robot. 5, 529–547 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartneck, C., Bleeker, T., Bun, J., Fens, P., Riet, L.: The influence of robot anthropomorphism on the feelings of embarrassment when interacting with robots. Paladyn J. Behav. Robot. 1(2), 109–115 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R.F., Leary, M.R.: The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychol. Bull. 117(3), 497–529 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Broadbent, E., et al.: Robots with display screens: a robot with a more humanlike face display is perceived to have more mind and a better personality. PLoS ONE 8(8), e72589 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, K.J., Lin, J.S.: Revisiting the effects of anthropomorphism on brand relationship outcomes: the moderating role of psychological disposition. Eur. J. Mark. 55(8), 2174–2200 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Z., Yang, G.: Which brand personification image is preferred: the moderating effect and boundary of belonging needs. Nankai Manage. Rev. 20(03), 135–143 (2017). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Choi, J., Madhavaram, S.R., Park, H.Y.: The role of hedonic and utilitarian motives on the effectiveness of partitioned pricing. J. Retail. 96(2), 251–265 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delbaere, M., McQuarrie, E.F., Phillips, B.J.: Personification in advertising. J. Advert. 40(1), 121–130 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dugan, R.G., Clarkson, J.J., Beck, J.T.: When cause-marketing backfires: differential effects of one-for-one promotions on hedonic and utilitarian products. J. Consum. Psychol. 31(3), 532–550 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du, J., Zhu, Y., Song, J.: Does anthropomorphism lead to more or less use? – Study on the interaction between anthropomorphic design and product type on post-purchase usage. Foreign Econ. Manage. 44(12), 120–135 (2022). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Epley, N., Waytz, A., Cacioppo, J.T.: On seeing human: a three-factor theory of anthropomorphism. Psychol. Rev. 114(4), 864 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epley, N., Waytz, A., Akalis, S., Cacioppo, J.T.: When we need a human: motivational determinants of anthropomorphism. Soc. Cogn. 26(2), 143–155 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fazli-Salehi, R., Torres, I.M., Madadi, R., Zúñiga, M.Á.: The impact of interpersonal traits (extraversion and agreeableness) on consumers’ self-brand connection and communal-brand connection with anthropomorphized brands. J. Brand Manage. 29(1), 13–34 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-021-00251-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong, S., Shangguan, C., Zhai, K., Guo, Y.: The impact of emotional design on multimedia learning. Acta Psychol. Sin. 49(06), 771–782 (2017). (in Chinese)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ha, Q.A., Chen, J.V., Uy, H.U., Capistrano, E.P.: Exploring the privacy concerns in using Intelligent Virtual Assistants under perspectives of information sensitivity and anthropomorphism. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Interact. 37, 512–527 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidultoo: DP01- Hello, Digital Life. From the Internet, November 2020. (in Chinese). https://mp.weixin.qq.com/

  • Kim, A., Cho, M., Ahn, J., Sung, Y.: Effects of gender and relationship type on the response to artificial intelligence. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Netw. 22(4), 249–253 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leary, M.R., Kelly, K.M., Cottrell, C.A., Schreindorfer, L.S.: Construct validity of the need to belong scale: mapping the nomological network. J. Pers. Assess. 95(6), 610–624 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liviatan, I., Trope, Y., Liberman, N.: Interpersonal similarity as a social distance dimension: implications for perception of others’ actions. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 44(5), 1256–1269 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, X., Sung, Y.: Anthropomorphism brings us closer: the mediating role of psychological distance in User–AI assistant interactions. Comput. Hum. Behav. 118, 106680 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maeng, A., Aggarwal, P.: Facing dominance: anthropomorphism and the effect of product face ratio on consumer preference. J. Consum. Res. 44(5), 1104–1122 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meng, L.: Evaluation characteristics and eye movement mechanism of product expressions in hedonic and practical scenarios (Master’s Thesis, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University) (2021). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sauro, J.: SUPR-Q: a comprehensive measure of the quality of the website user experience. J. Usability Stud. 10(2), 68–86 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  • Shank, D.B., Graves, C., Gott, A., Gamez, P., Rodriguez, S.: Feeling our way to machine minds: people’s emotions when perceiving mind in artificial intelligence. Comput. Hum. Behav. 98, 256–266 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Velasco, F., Yang, Z., Janakiraman, N.: A meta-analytic investigation of consumer response to anthropomorphic appeals: the roles of product type and uncertainty avoidance. J. Bus. Res. 131, 735–746 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voss, K.E., Spangenberg, E.R., Grohmann, B.: Measuring the hedonic and utilitarian dimensions of consumer attitude. J. Mark. Res. 40(3), 310–320 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y.-Z., Lu, H.-L.: Influence of power perception on purchase intention of anthropomorphic products. Psychol. Sci. 42(03), 660–666 (2019). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Waytz, A., Epley, N.: Social connection enables dehumanization. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 48(1), 70–76 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waytz, A., Heafner, J., Epley, N.: The mind in the machine: anthropomorphism increases trust in an autonomous vehicle. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 52, 113–117 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, Y.: Attention processing Mechanism and Usability testing of anthropomorphic ICONS on Web pages (Master Dissertation, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University) (2020). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie, Y., Chen, K., Guo, X.: Online anthropomorphism and consumers’ privacy concern: moderating roles of need for interaction and social exclusion. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 55, 102119 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu, L., Yu, F., Zhao, L., Han, T.: Anthropomorphism in human-computer interaction. In: Chinese Psychological Society (eds.) 20th National Conference on Psychology and National Mental Health Abstracts, pp. 1135–1136 (2017). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, N., Wu, X., Li, S., Li, J.-W.: User diversity, emotional characteristics and adaptive innovation of digital products. Res. Sci. Sci. 41(06), 1121–1129 (2023). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Yam, K.C., et al.: Robots at work: people prefer—and forgive—service robots with perceived feelings. J. Appl. Psychol. 106(10), 1557 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan, L., Dennis, A.R.: Acting like humans? Anthropomorphism and consumer’s willingness to pay in electronic commerce. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 36(2), 450–477 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Y.: Research on Data-driven Internet Product R&D Management (Master thesis). Beijing Jiaotong University (2022). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Y.: The impact of emotional personification on Purchase Intention (Master’s Thesis, Zhejiang University) (2021). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zong, Y., Wang, G.: Anthropomorphism: psychological applications in human-computer interaction. Psychol. Tech. Appl. 4(05), 296–305 (2016). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32000771); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (21XNLG13).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yue Qi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Ethics declarations

Disclosure of Interests

The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Fig. 4.
figure 4

Hedonic products page 1

Fig. 5.
figure 5

Hedonic products page 2

Fig. 6.
figure 6

Hedonic products page 3

Fig. 7.
figure 7

Hedonic products page 4

Fig. 8.
figure 8

Hedonic products page 5

Appendix 2

See Figs. 9 and 10.

Fig. 9.
figure 9

Practical product page 1

Fig. 10.
figure 10

Practical product page 2

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Yang, R., Qi, Y. (2024). The Influence of Anthropomorphism on the User Experience of Digital Products. In: Rau, PL.P. (eds) Cross-Cultural Design. HCII 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14699. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-60898-8_25

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-60898-8_25

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-60897-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-60898-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics