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A PILOT STUDY EXPLORING CHILDREN AND PREADOLESCENTS’ PREFERENCES REGARDING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT WHEN USING DIGITAL MEDIA

Abstract

Due to the technological progress in recent years, which facilitated the simulation of
humanlike features in virtual agents, children might be more likely than ever to interact with
virtual assistants. However, there is limited research on children’s preferences in interacting
with such digital entities. The present study investigated the preferences of 226 kindergarten
and elementary school students, aged 3 to 13 (M = 7.38, SD = 2.01) related to the physical
appearance of a virtual assistant (i.e., image and color) and to the welcoming message that the
assistant will display. The results suggested that children aged 3 to 6 preferred an
anthropomorphized heart as an avatar for the virtual assistant, while the other age groups
preferred an anthropomorphized fox. Red and blue were the most common favorite colors
among the participants. Our results suggest that younger children might be more prone to
anthropomorphize and accept a broader category of objects and entities, while children of
higher age might show preferences for living beings that already present some humanlike
characteristics. Furthermore, the results suggested that children’s control in selecting colors of
virtual assistants might help them to accept and like the virtual assistants more. The limitations
of our research are also discussed.