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

Nyman, T. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6409-2528, Noromies, A.-K., Pompedda, F., Santtila, P. and Antfolk, J. (2025) Emotional engagement and perceived empathy in live vs. automated psychological interviews. PLoS ONE, 20 (5). e0323490. ISSN 1932-6203 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0323490

Abstract/Summary

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.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/122650
Identification Number/DOI	10.1371/journal.pone.0323490
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology
Publisher	Public Library of Science
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