Do Underlying Attitudes Affect Users' Subjective Experiences? The Case of an Empathic Agent

In this paper, we present evidence that underlying attitudes, i.e., preconceived ideas about applications or domains, affect users' experience of social support by an empathic virtual buddy that provides emotional support and practical advice to victims of cyberbullying. This effect might be a (partial) explanation for the inconclusive and contradictory results reported for the impact of emotional agents on user attitudes, perceptions, and behavior.