This computer responds to user frustration:

TLDR

Technology use often triggers unpleasant side effects, including negative emotional states that can impair interaction, productivity, learning, relationships, and overall well‑being. This study proposes designing human–computer interaction systems that actively support users in managing and recovering from such negative emotions. An interactive affect‑support agent, implemented with a text‑and‑button GUI, was built to demonstrate active listening, empathy, and sympathy, and its effectiveness was evaluated against two text‑based control conditions—emotion‑ignored and venting. Results showed that users continued interacting with the system longer after using the affect‑support agent, indicating that the computer can mitigate its own negative impact by helping users manage their emotional state.

Abstract

Use of technology often has unpleasant side effects, which may include strong, negative emotional states that arise during interaction with computers. Frustration, confusion, anger, anxiety and similar emotional states can affect not only the interaction itself, but also productivity, learning, social relationships, and overall well-being. This paper suggests a new solution to this problem: designing human–computer interaction systems to actively support users in their ability to manage and recover from negative emotional states. An interactive affect–support agent was designed and built to test the proposed solution in a situation where users were feeling frustration. The agent, which used only text and buttons in a graphical user interface for its interaction, demonstrated components of active listening, empathy, and sympathy in an effort to support users in their ability to recover from frustration. The agent's effectiveness was evaluated against two control conditions, which were also text-based interactions: (1) users’ emotions were ignored, and (2) users were able to report problems and ‘vent’ their feelings and concerns to the computer. Behavioral results showed that users chose to continue to interact with the system that had caused their frustration significantly longer after interacting with the affect–support agent, in comparison with the two controls. These results support the prediction that the computer can undo some of the negative feelings it causes by helping a user manage his or her emotional state.