Trust Lengthens Decision Time on Unexpected Recommendations in Human-agent Interaction

Abstract

As intelligent agents learn to behave increasingly autonomously and simulate a high level of intelligence, human interaction with them will be increasingly unpredictable. Would you accept an unexpected and sometimes irrational but actually correct recommendation by an agent you trust? We performed two experiments in which participants played a game. In this game, the participants chose a path by referring to a recommendation from the agent in one of two experimental conditions:the correct or the faulty condition. After interactions with the agent, the participants received an unexpected recommendation by the agent. The results showed that, while the trust measured by a questionnaire in the correct condition was higher than that in the faulty condition, there was no significant difference in the number of people who accepted the recommendation. Furthermore, the trust in the agent made decision time significantly longer when the recommendation was not rational.