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Negotiation as a Challenge Problem for Virtual Humans

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Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9238))

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Abstract

We argue for the importance of negotiation as a challenge problem for virtual human research, and introduce a virtual conversational agent that allows people to practice a wide range of negotiation skills. We describe the multi-issue bargaining task, which has become a de facto standard for teaching and research on negotiation in both the social and computer sciences. This task is popular as it allows scientists or instructors to create a variety of distinct situations that arise in real-life negotiations, simply by manipulating a small number of mathematical parameters. We describe the development of a virtual human that will allow students to practice the interpersonal skills they need to recognize and navigate these situations. An evaluation of an early wizard-controlled version of the system demonstrates the promise of this technology for teaching negotiation and supporting scientific research on social intelligence.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Time pressure can be introduced by adding a deadline or a temporal discounting function. Automated negotiation agents usually require parties to alternate complete offers. Generalizations are also possible, e.g., by relaxing the assumption of an additive utility function.

  2. 2.

    Personal communication with Professor Peter Kim, instructor of the negotiation course at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the US Army. The content does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of any Government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

    Jonathan Gratch, David DeVault & Gale M. Lucas

  2. Northeastern University, Boston, USA

    Stacy Marsella

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  1. Jonathan Gratch
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  2. David DeVault
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  4. Stacy Marsella
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Correspondence to Jonathan Gratch .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Willem-Paul Brinkman

  2. Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Joost Broekens

  3. University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Dirk Heylen

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Gratch, J., DeVault, D., Lucas, G.M., Marsella, S. (2015). Negotiation as a Challenge Problem for Virtual Humans. In: Brinkman, WP., Broekens, J., Heylen, D. (eds) Intelligent Virtual Agents. IVA 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9238. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21996-7_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21996-7_21

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21996-7

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