Toward a more civilized design: studying the effects of computers that apologize

While it is difficult to create completely error-free interactions in software design, the issue of how to make users feel better when they encounter errors is critical to the concept of user-centered design. Neilsen argued for offering a slightly apologetic statement before an error message provided by web servers, but the notion of a computer apologizing to its users inevitably triggers a debate about the appropriateness of providing humanized messages to users. To understand how users react to computers’ apologies (presented by textual or visual formats), a computer-guessing game was designed to test users’ reactions. The game features three treatments (difficulty levels, feedback types, and emotional icons), each having two levels (difficult vs. easy, apologetic feedback vs. non-apologetic feedback, with emotional icons vs. without emotional icons). Two-hundred and sixty nine high school students participated in this study and were randomly assigned to one of eight groups. The results show that while the computers’ actual performances still dominated the users’ assessments of the program, the computer apologies help to create more desirable psychological experiences for the users, and emotional icons help to improve the aesthetic quality of the program.