Emotional engagement and perceived empathy in live vs. automated psychological interviews

Thomas J. Nyman; Anna Karin Noromies; Francesco Pompedda; Pekka Santtila; Jan Antfolk

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0323490

Emotional engagement and perceived empathy in live vs. automated psychological interviews

Thomas J. Nyman^*
, Anna Karin Noromies
, Francesco Pompedda
, Pekka Santtila
, Jan Antfolk

^*Corresponding author for this work

FHS common

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

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Abstract

In clinical in-person conditions, social presence, perceived empathy, and emotional engagement are related to positive outcomes. In online settings, it is unclear how these factors affect outcomes. Here, in 10–15-minute interviews, we investigated the influence of automation. Participants (N=75) engaged in one of three possible interviews: live semi-scripted, live scripted, or video scripted. In the first two, participants communicated with a live interviewer and, in the third, with pre-recorded interviewer questions and answers. Emotion recognition software revealed that expressed joy differed between conditions (χ²(2) = 18.08, p<.001); both live conditions had higher scores (vs. video scripted). Self-rated perceived interviewer empathy also differed between conditions in the same way (F[2, 72] = 9.445, p<0.001). We found a positive correlation between perceived empathy and expressed joy (r=.35; p<.01). In sum, automatized interviews differed in perceived empathy and expressed emotion compared with live interviews.

Original language	English
Article number	e0323490
Journal	PLOS ONE
Volume	20
Issue number	5 May
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323490
Publication status	Published - May 2025
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

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journal.pone.0323490Final published version, 1.92 MBLicence: CC BY

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025082283953

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title = "Emotional engagement and perceived empathy in live vs. automated psychological interviews",

abstract = "In clinical in-person conditions, social presence, perceived empathy, and emotional engagement are related to positive outcomes. In online settings, it is unclear how these factors affect outcomes. Here, in 10–15-minute interviews, we investigated the influence of automation. Participants (N=75) engaged in one of three possible interviews: live semi-scripted, live scripted, or video scripted. In the first two, participants communicated with a live interviewer and, in the third, with pre-recorded interviewer questions and answers. Emotion recognition software revealed that expressed joy differed between conditions (χ2(2) = 18.08, p<.001); both live conditions had higher scores (vs. video scripted). Self-rated perceived interviewer empathy also differed between conditions in the same way (F[2, 72] = 9.445, p<0.001). We found a positive correlation between perceived empathy and expressed joy (r=.35; p<.01). In sum, automatized interviews differed in perceived empathy and expressed emotion compared with live interviews.",

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AU - Antfolk, Jan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 Nyman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2025/5

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N2 - In clinical in-person conditions, social presence, perceived empathy, and emotional engagement are related to positive outcomes. In online settings, it is unclear how these factors affect outcomes. Here, in 10–15-minute interviews, we investigated the influence of automation. Participants (N=75) engaged in one of three possible interviews: live semi-scripted, live scripted, or video scripted. In the first two, participants communicated with a live interviewer and, in the third, with pre-recorded interviewer questions and answers. Emotion recognition software revealed that expressed joy differed between conditions (χ2(2) = 18.08, p<.001); both live conditions had higher scores (vs. video scripted). Self-rated perceived interviewer empathy also differed between conditions in the same way (F[2, 72] = 9.445, p<0.001). We found a positive correlation between perceived empathy and expressed joy (r=.35; p<.01). In sum, automatized interviews differed in perceived empathy and expressed emotion compared with live interviews.

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Emotional engagement and perceived empathy in live vs. automated psychological interviews

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