Expecting politeness: perceptions of voice assistant politeness

Abstract We examined how politeness perception can change when used by a human or voice assistant in different contexts. We conducted two norming studies and two experiments. In the norming studies, we assessed the levels of positive politeness (cooperation) and negative politeness (respecting autonomy) conveyed by a range of politeness strategies across task (Norming Study 1) and social (Norming Study 2) request types. In the experiments, we tested the effect of request type and imposition level on the perception of written requests (Experiment 1) and requests spoken by a voice assistant (Experiment 2). We found that the perception of politeness strategies varied by request type. Positive politeness strategies were rated as very polite with task requests. In contrast, both positive and negative politeness strategies were rated as very polite with social requests. We also found that people expect agents to respect their autonomy more than they expect them to cooperate. Detailed studies of how request context interacts with politeness strategies to affect politeness perception have not previously been reported. Technology designers might find Tables 4 and 5 in this report especially useful for determining what politeness strategies are most appropriate for a given situation as well as what politeness strategies will evoke the desired feeling (autonomy or cooperation).