People's perception of human and computer advice

The aim of the present paper is to study users' perception of computers and human beings as advice givers in problem-solving situations. It will be asked if people's self-confidence and their perception of the advice vary depending on the origin of advice. Two studies showed somewhat different results. In the first study, people were given advice either by a (putative) computer or by a human being. Their self-confidence did not vary with the origin of the advice, but with the correctness of their own answer as well as of the advice. The perception of this advice did not differ for the two situations. Their general trust in computers was, however, much less than their trust in human beings. In the second study, the subjects had to attribute advice to a computer or a human being, without being told from whom the advice emanated. For Swedish subjects, the ratings showed consistently higher attributions to human beings regarding knowledge and explanation value of advice and higher attributions to computers regarding trust and understanding. For Indian subjects, humans always received the higher attributions. It was concluded that people's perception of computers seems to be related both to existing attitudes and to their experience of the advice given. knowledge in the domain seems to be an important factor influencing the perception of the computer as trustworthy.