SOCIALIZING CONSISTENCY - Human-Computer Interaction and Management Information Systems: Foundations - page 358

Study on Personality in Voice and Content
Eighty participants took part in the experiment. Participants were directed to an online auction site,
complete with an eBay-like interface. The site included the names and pictures of nine antique or
collectible auction items: a 1963 classic lamp, a 1995 limited edition Marilyn Monroe watch,
a 1920s radio, a 1968 Russian circus poster, a very old church key (1910-1920s), a 1916 Oxford
map, a 1920 letter opener, a 1940s US Treasury award medal, and a 1965 black rotary wall phone.
The items were chosen so that they would not be of great interest to the vast majority of partici-
pants: Desire for a particular item could confuse the results.
For each item, two descriptions were created, one that would be written by an extrovert and one
that would be written by an introvert. Each was based on an actual description from eBay. The
different personalities were created by modifying word choice, phrasing, and the length of the
descriptions. The extroverted descriptions of the auction items were filled with adjectives and
adverbs and used strong and descriptive language expressed in the form of confident assertions and
exclamations. There were also references to the writer and to others, such “I am sure you will like
this.” By contrast, the introverted descriptions were relatively short, used more tentative and
matter-of-fact language, and did not reference either the writer or the reader. For example, the
extroverted description of the lamp read:
This is a reproduction of one of the most famous of the Tiffany stained glass pieces. The
colors are absolutely sensational! The first class hand-made copper-foiled stained glass
shade is over six and one-half inches in diameter and over five inches tall. I am sure that this
gorgeous lamp will accent any environment and bring a classic touch of the past to a stylish
present. It is guaranteed to be in excellent condition! I would very highly recommend it.
Conversely, the introverted description of the lamp read:
This is a reproduction of a Tiffany stained glass piece. The colors are quite rich. The hand-
made copper-foiled stained glass shade is about six and one-half inches in diameter and five
inches tall.
The personality of the synthetic voice was created by manipulating various speech characteris-
tics (Nass and Lee, 2001). The introverted voice had a lower volume, lower pitch, smaller pitch
range, and spoke slowly, while the extroverted voice had higher volume, higher pitch, wide pitch
range, and spoke rapidly (Nass and Brave, 2005).
When participants clicked on a button next to each of the items, they heard either an extroverted
or introverted description of the item via either an introverted or extroverted synthetic voice. For all
items, one-fourth of the participants heard extroverted descriptions spoken by an extroverted voice,
one-fourth heard extroverted descriptions spoken by an introverted voice, one-fourth heard intro-
verted descriptions spoken by an introverted voice, and one-fourth heard introverted descriptions
spoken by an extroverted voice. Equal numbers of introverted and extroverted participants were
randomly assigned to each of these four conditions.
After listening to descriptions of all nine auction items, participants filled out a Web-based
questionnaire. Based on participants' responses to the questionnaire, there were clear and power-
ful effects for consistency. When the voice personality and content personality were consistent,
people liked the voice itself more and liked the content more. People also liked the writer more and
found the writer to be more credible when the interface was consistent. Consistency of personality