Building a Stronger CASA: Extending the Computers Are Social Actors Paradigm

TLDR

The Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) framework, rooted in the media equation, posits that people treat media and machines as social actors, yet it has faced criticism without revision. The study argues for expanding CASA to account for evolving users, technologies, and interaction patterns. The authors propose that humans develop and apply human–media social scripts, extending CASA beyond mindless human–human script transfer. The extended CASA accounts for prior dissonant findings and broadens scholarship across human-machine, human-computer, human-robot, human-agent, AI, and computer-mediated communication.

Abstract

The computers are social actors framework (CASA), derived from the media equation, explains how people communicate with media and machines demonstrating social potential. Many studies have challenged CASA, yet it has not been revised. We argue that CASA needs to be expanded because people have changed, technologies have changed, and the way people interact with technologies has changed. We discuss the implications of these changes and propose an extension of CASA. Whereas CASA suggests humans mindlessly apply human-human social scripts to interactions with media agents, we argue that humans may develop and apply human-media social scripts to these interactions. Our extension explains previous dissonant findings and expands scholarship regarding human-machine communication, human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, human-agent interaction, artificial intelligence, and computer-mediated communication.