Researchers have discovered that students who were assigned a task by a socially interactive robot equipped with a captivating and motivating voice exhibited superior performance and greater creativity compared to their counterparts who received the same task from an indistinguishable robot programmed with a monotonous voice. [2]

Figure 1. Charismatic voice robot. [1]

Figure 1 shows a charismatic voice robot. Danish scientists conducted a study to explore the impact of social robots' voices on their performance as facilitators of team creativity in educational settings. As social robots are increasingly utilized for education support, the researchers aimed to investigate whether the sound of a robot's voice influences its effectiveness, particularly in team environments where collaboration and the generation of new ideas are crucial. To delve into this aspect, the scientists examined whether robots employing a charismatic voice design would prove to be more successful in fostering team creativity. [2]

“We had a robot instruct teams of students in a creativity task. The robot either used a confident, passionate — ie charismatic — tone of voice or a normal, matter-of-fact tone of voice,” said Dr. Kerstin Fischer of the University of Southern Denmark, corresponding author of the study in Frontiers in Communication. “We found that when the robot spoke in a charismatic speaking style, students’ ideas were more original and more elaborate.” [2]

Can a robot be charismatic?

Fischer and her colleagues recognized that social robots can enhance creativity as facilitators and that charisma plays a role in the success of facilitators. They embarked on a study to determine whether this effect could be replicated using social robots' voices. They achieved this by developing two distinct voices through a text-to-speech function: one designed to exhibit charismatic qualities, including specific pitch range and word stress patterns, and another voice with less expressive characteristics. These voice variations were created based on various parameters that are known to be associated with perceived speaker charisma. [2]

The scientists recruited five classes of university students who were enrolled in courses involving team creativity. The students were informed that they would be participating in a creativity workshop, focused on generating ideas based on images and utilizing those ideas to develop a new chocolate product. The workshop sessions were conducted using videos of a robot as the facilitator. The robot's videos included task introduction, providing reassurance to the student teams regarding the absence of bad ideas, and offering congratulations upon completion of the task. Afterward, the students were asked to complete a self-evaluation questionnaire, which assessed the robot's performance, the student’s perceptions of their teamwork, and the overall success of the session. Additionally, the researchers measured the creativity of each session by quantifying the number of original ideas generated and evaluating their level of complexity or elaboration. [2]

Powering creativity with charisma

The group of students who heard the charismatic voice rated the robot more positively, perceiving it as more charismatic and interactive. Moreover, they reported having a more positive perception of their teamwork and generated a greater number of original and elaborate ideas. They also rated their teamwork more favorably. On the other hand, the group exposed to the non-charismatic voice perceived themselves as more resilient and efficient. This could be attributed to the fact that a less charismatic leader prompted better organization among the team members themselves, despite their production of fewer ideas. [2]

“I had suspected that charismatic speech has very important effects, but our study provides clear evidence for the effect of charismatic speech on listener creativity,” said Dr. Oliver Niebuhr of the University of Southern Denmark, co-author of the study. “This is the first time that such a link between charismatic voices, artificial speakers, and creativity outputs has been found.” [2]

The scientists emphasized that while the sessions featuring the charismatic voice were generally more successful, it was noted that not all teams responded uniformly to the different voices. They speculated that the teams' prior experiences in their respective classes might have influenced their reactions. To gain a deeper understanding of how these external factors influenced team performance, larger-scale studies will be necessary. Such studies would help to elucidate the nuanced dynamics at play and provide insights into the specific conditions under which the charismatic voice proves most effective in enhancing team creativity. [2]

“The robot was present only in videos, but one could suspect that more exposure or repeated exposure to the charismatic speaking style would have even stronger effects,” said Fischer. “Moreover, we have only varied a few features between the two robot conditions. We don’t know how the effect size would change if other or more features were varied. Finally, since charismatic speaking patterns differ between cultures, we would expect that the same stimuli will not yield the same results in all languages and cultures.” [2]

Source: Frontiers

References:

1. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.1115360/full
2. https://blog.frontiersin.org/2023/05/22/can-charismatic-robots-help-teams-be-more-creative/

Cite this article:

Hana M (2023), The Power of Charismatic Speech in Robot Instructions for Enhancing Team Creativity, AnaTechmaz, pp.438