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[2602.17185] The Bots of Persuasion: Examining How Conversational Agents' Linguistic Expressions of Personality Affect User Perceptions and Decisions
Summary
This article explores how the linguistic expressions of personality in conversational agents (CAs) influence user perceptions and decisions, particularly in charitable giving contexts.
Why It Matters
Understanding the impact of conversational agents' personalities is crucial as they become more integrated into decision-making processes. This research highlights potential manipulative risks and the importance of designing CAs that foster trust and positive user experiences.
Key Takeaways
- Conversational agents can project personalities that affect user perceptions.
- Pessimistic CAs lead to lower emotional states and affinity but can increase donation amounts.
- Trust and competence perceptions significantly influence donation decisions.
- The study underscores the ethical implications of using CAs in persuasive contexts.
- Designing CAs requires careful consideration of their linguistic expressions to avoid manipulation.
Computer Science > Human-Computer Interaction arXiv:2602.17185 (cs) [Submitted on 19 Feb 2026] Title:The Bots of Persuasion: Examining How Conversational Agents' Linguistic Expressions of Personality Affect User Perceptions and Decisions Authors:Uğur Genç, Heng Gu, Chadha Degachi, Evangelos Niforatos, Senthil Chandrasegaran, Himanshu Verma View a PDF of the paper titled The Bots of Persuasion: Examining How Conversational Agents' Linguistic Expressions of Personality Affect User Perceptions and Decisions, by U\u{g}ur Gen\c{c} and 5 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Large Language Model-powered conversational agents (CAs) are increasingly capable of projecting sophisticated personalities through language, but how these projections affect users is unclear. We thus examine how CA personalities expressed linguistically affect user decisions and perceptions in the context of charitable giving. In a crowdsourced study, 360 participants interacted with one of eight CAs, each projecting a personality composed of three linguistic aspects: attitude (optimistic/pessimistic), authority (authoritative/submissive), and reasoning (emotional/rational). While the CA's composite personality did not affect participants' decisions, it did affect their perceptions and emotional responses. Particularly, participants interacting with pessimistic CAs felt lower emotional state and lower affinity towards the cause, perceived the CA as less trustworthy and less competent, and yet ...
