Lee Doyeon, Chang Byeng-Hee, Chan-Olmsted Sylvia
Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
Department of Media and Communication, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Front Public Health. 2025 Apr 4;13:1555218. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1555218. eCollection 2025.
The advancement of virtual human technology has opened new possibilities for its application in various fields, including healthcare. Recent research has begun exploring the use of virtual humans as tools for mood management in daily life. However, there is limited understanding of how individuals perceive virtual humans for this purpose, particularly in social media contexts where they are often viewed as influencers rather than therapeutic entities. This study investigates whether people intend to accept virtual humans as a kind of friend and engage in mood management. The study applies the Cognitive Behavioral Theory of Pathological Internet Use integrated with the Technology Acceptance Model and the Uncanny Valley Effect to explain why people who prefer online social interaction use virtual humans for mood management, and to examine whether they will accept virtual humans as friends.
This study employs survey, where participants were asked about their perceptions of virtual humans, specifically focusing on their willingness to accept virtual humans as friends for mood management on social media platforms. The sample consists of social media users who are familiar with virtual influencers. A series of hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling to assess the relationships between prefer for online social interaction, online chatting mood regulation, perceived usefulness, ease of use, and intention to accept virtual humans for mood management, as well as the moderating effect of perceived eeriness.
The study found that the preference for online social interaction has a positive impact on using online chatting for mood management, both for casual chatting and therapeutic chatting. Individuals seeking casual chatting perceive usefulness and ease of use for virtual humans, while those seeking therapeutic chatting perceive only usefulness. Perceived usefulness and ease of use have a positive effect on the intention to accept virtual humans as friends. However, perceived eeriness does not have a moderating effect between the variables.
The study highlights the potential of virtual humans to assist with mood management on social media platforms, indicating that they could serve a practical role in psychological well-being. While the current study suggests that virtual humans are seen as useful for therapeutic purposes, challenges remain in helping users envision them in this role. Future research should address these challenges by exploring the nuances of user interaction with virtual humans and examining their potential to make a broader social impact, especially in the fields of mental health care and personalized customer service.
虚拟人技术的进步为其在包括医疗保健在内的各个领域的应用开辟了新的可能性。最近的研究已开始探索将虚拟人用作日常生活中情绪管理的工具。然而，对于个体如何为此目的看待虚拟人，人们的了解有限，尤其是在社交媒体环境中，虚拟人通常被视为有影响力的人而非治疗实体。本研究调查人们是否打算将虚拟人当作一种朋友并进行情绪管理。该研究应用整合了技术接受模型和恐怖谷效应的病理性互联网使用认知行为理论，来解释为何偏好在线社交互动的人会使用虚拟人进行情绪管理，并检验他们是否会将虚拟人当作朋友接受。
本研究采用问卷调查，询问参与者对虚拟人的看法，特别关注他们在社交媒体平台上接受虚拟人作为情绪管理朋友的意愿。样本由熟悉虚拟有影响力人物的社交媒体用户组成。使用结构方程模型检验了一系列假设，以评估在线社交互动偏好、在线聊天情绪调节、感知有用性、易用性以及接受虚拟人进行情绪管理的意愿之间的关系，以及感知怪异程度的调节作用。
研究发现，在线社交互动偏好对将在线聊天用于情绪管理有积极影响，无论是闲聊还是治疗性聊天。寻求闲聊的个体认为虚拟人有用且易用，而寻求治疗性聊天的个体只认为其有用。感知有用性和易用性对接受虚拟人作为朋友的意愿有积极影响。然而，感知怪异程度在这些变量之间没有调节作用。
该研究凸显了虚拟人在社交媒体平台上协助情绪管理的潜力，表明它们在心理健康方面可发挥实际作用。虽然当前研究表明虚拟人在治疗目的方面被视为有用，但在帮助用户将其视为这一角色方面仍存在挑战。未来的研究应通过探索用户与虚拟人的互动细微差别，并研究它们产生更广泛社会影响的潜力来应对这些挑战，尤其是在心理保健和个性化客户服务领域。
