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E-contact facilitated by conversational agents reduces interethnic prejudice and anxiety in Afghanistan

Social Work

E-contact facilitated by conversational agents reduces interethnic prejudice and anxiety in Afghanistan

S. Sahab, J. Haqbeen, et al.

This groundbreaking study reveals how a conversational agent can effectively reduce interethnic prejudices and hostility among Afghanistan's diverse ethnic groups. Conducted by Sofia Sahab and colleagues, the research highlights the potential of e-contact platforms to foster better intergroup attitudes in conflict-prone contexts.

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Playback language: English
Abstract
This study investigates whether using a conversational agent (CA) in e-contact platforms can mitigate interethnic prejudices and hostility among Afghanistan's ethnic groups. A three-timepoint online experiment with 128 Afghan participants from Pashtun, Tajik, and Hazara backgrounds assigned to four e-contact conditions (control and three experimental groups varying in CA settings) found that experimental groups contributed more ideas and longer opinions and showed a greater reduction in outgroup prejudice and anxiety than the control group. This demonstrates that CA-facilitated e-contact can improve intergroup attitudes even in highly conflictual contexts.
Publisher
Communications Psychology
Published On
Mar 21, 2024
Authors
Sofia Sahab, Jawad Haqbeen, Rafik Hadfi, Takayuki Ito, Richard Eke Imade, Susumu Ohnuma, Takuya Hasegawa
Tags
conversational agent
interethnic prejudice
e-contact
Afghanistan
Tajik
Pashtun
Hazara
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