Anne Scherer: Why we're more honest with machines than people | TED

Transcriber:

Translator: Mario Cal Reviewer: Xosé María Moreno

Now, a few years back, I was having a barbecue with friends and family.

Hai uns anos, estaba facendo unha barbacoa con amigos e parentes.

As usual, we talked about the weather, the good food or TV shows to watch.

Coma de costume, falabamos do tempo, da comida e do que botaban na tele.

So nothing out of the ordinary

Nada fóra do normal

until one attendee casually mentioned

ata que un dos convidados mencionou como de pasada

that he and his wife hadn't had sex in a long time.

que a súa muller e máis el levaban moito sen ter relacións.

As you can imagine, what followed was an awkward silence.

Como imaxinaredes, o que seguiu foi un incómodo silencio.

Until a six-year-old boy attending the barbecue with his parents

Entón un neno de seis anos que viñera cos pais

blurted out that his parents had lots of sex

soltou que os seus pais facíano moitísimo

and he could hear them all the time.

e que el os oía todo o tempo.

And then the barbecue continued as if nothing had happened.

E a barbacoa continuou como se non pasase nada.

Now, when I'm not having barbecues,

Cando non estou facendo barbacoas,

I am researching how people interact with each other

estou investigando como interactúan as persoas

and how that transfers to their interactions with technologies,

e como iso se transfire ás interaccións coas tecnoloxías,

so not all too surprisingly,

así que, como era de esperar,

after this very unique social interaction at the barbecue,

tras esa singular interacción social da barbacoa,

I was left wondering why we, the audience,

quedei a pensar por que nós, a audiencia,

were so greatly ignoring what the adult so openly shared with us that evening.

ignoramos de forma tan clara o que o adulto compartiu abertamente.

So why the silence and then the laughter at the boy's comment?

Por que o silencio e logo as gargalladas diante do comentario do neno?

Well, both of them were breaking a social rule:

Ao cabo, ámbolos dous estaban a romper unha norma social:

never talk about sex, money or politics at a dinner table.

na mesa non se fala de sexo, cartos ou política.

We assume that an adult knows this rule and sticks to it.

Damos por sentado que un adulto coñece e respeta esa norma.

So when such expectations are broken,

Cando non se cumpre esa expectativa,

we sanction the offender accordingly -- in our case, with ignorance.

sancionamos ao infractor como corresponde: no noso caso, ignorándoo.

When a child, however, breaks such a rule,

En cambio, cando un neno rompe a norma,

we attribute this to their naive understanding of our social manners

atribuímolo á súa inxenuidade no que fai ás convencións sociais

and up to a certain age at least, do not openly sanction them for it.

e, ao menos ata certa idade, non o sancionamos abertamente.

Clearly, there is no official rule book for socially appropriate behaviors

Está claro que non hai normas oficiais sobre a conduta socialmente apropiada

or even socially accepted dinner topics.

ou sobre os temas de conversa aceptables na mesa.

In fact, our social norms are usually unwritten codes of conduct,

De feito, as normas sociais adoitan ser códigos de conduta non escritos

and they change over time as we as a society change and learn.

que van mudando a medida que nós mudamos e aprendemos como sociedade.

Less than a year ago, for instance,

Hai menos dun ano, por exemplo,

it was considered impolite not to shake hands

considerábase de mala educación non dar a man

when introducing yourself to someone.

cando te presentabas.

A few months and the worldwide spread of the coronavirus later

Uns meses e unha epidemia de coronavirus máis tarde,

and shaking hands may be something to be frowned upon

dar a man pode estar mal visto

and maybe even a thing of the past.

ou mesmo ser un costume doutro tempo.

The way we learn these social rules then

Aprendemos estas normas sociais

is mostly by social rewards and social punishments.

esencialmente a base de premios e castigos sociais.

Now, as social animals,

Como animais sociais,

we aim for social approval and want to avoid other's disapproval.

buscamos a aprobación e fuximos da desaprobación dos demais.

So we act in a way that is socially accepted

Así que actuamos dun modo socialmente aceptable

and present ourselves in a socially desirable way to others.

e presentámonos ante os demais de forma socialmente desexable.

So we want to be seen as an individual that is smart, successful,

Queremos que nos vexan como individuos intelixentes, triunfadores,

sporty and active, creative, empathic and possibly all that at once.

deportistas, activos, creativos, empáticos ou mesmo todo iso á vez.

Now, through social media, our strive for social approval,

A través das redes sociais, o noso afán por obter aprobación social

and with it, our need for self-presentation and perfection

e a conseguinte necesidade de presentarnos e de ser perfectos

has skyrocketed.

disparouse.

Clearly, there is a flip side to all of this.

Como é lóxico, todo isto ten un lado negativo.

In any social interaction, we do not only look for others' approval,

En cada interacción social, non só buscamos a aprobación

but we also constantly fear other's disapproval

senón que tememos constantemente a desaprobación dos demais

when we cannot live up to their expectations.

cando non estamos á altura das súas expectativas.

Just consider an adult with incontinence problems

Pensade, por exemplo, nun adulto con problemas de incontinencia

or a drug addiction.

ou adicción ás drogas.

If he or she had to talk to a health care professional,

Se esa persoa ten que falar cun profesional da saúde,

what would you expect to find?

que esperaríades?

Or if a soldier returned from combat

Ou se un soldado que regresa dunha misión de combate

and had to talk about their fears or problems,

tivese que comentar os seus medos e problemas,

do you think they would open up easily?

pensades que lle resultaría fácil falar?

A team of USC researchers examined just that.

Na Universidade de Southern California investigaron precisamente iso.

So they looked at the data from the US Army.

Analizaron os datos do exército norteamericano.

Traditionally, soldiers had to be interviewed

Tradicionalmente, os soldados tiñan que entrevistarse

by a human health care professional when returning from combat

cun membro do persoal médico ao voltaren das súas misións,

to check if everything is OK.

para comprobar que todo estaba ben.

Now, interestingly,

Curiosamente,

the researchers found that soldiers hardly reported any problems

os investigadores descubriron que apenas informaban de problemas

after their returns.

tras o seu retorno.

Surely many of them were truly fine,

Seguro que moitos estaban perfectamente,

but the researchers also suspected

pero os investigadores sospeitaban

that many soldiers did not dare to share their problems openly.

que moitos soldados non se atrevían a falar abertamente dos seus problemas.

After all, soldiers are trained to be strong and brave individuals

Despois de todo, entrénanos para ser individuos fortes e valentes

that learn not to show any weaknesses.

que aprendan a non mostrarse vulnerables.

So openly admitting to have health problems,

Así que admitir abertamente que ten problemas de saúde,

to have trouble sleeping or to have nightmares

que non dorme ben ou ten pesadelos,

is not something easy to do for soldiers.

non é doado para un soldado.

The question then ultimately becomes

En última instancia, a cuestión é entón

how can we help individuals open up more easily

como axudarmos aos individuos a abrírense con máis facilidade

and worry less about the judgment of others?

e preocupárense menos polos xuízos dos demais.

Well, remember what I said earlier.

Lembrade o que dixen antes.

We expect social evaluation in any social interaction.

Agardamos avaliación social en calquera interacción social.

So how about we remove the social from the interaction?

Pero, e se eliminamos o social da interacción?

This is exactly what the team in the US did.

Iso exactamente foi o que fixeron estes investigadores.

In fact, they developed a virtual interviewer called SimSensei.

Crearon un entrevistador virtual chamado SlimSensei.

So SimSensei is a digital avatar that has a humanlike appearance

SlimSensei é un avatar dixital de aspecto humano

and can interact with clients through natural conversations.

que pode interactuar cos clientes nunha conversa espontánea.

Now, when returning from combat,

Así que, ao voltar dunha misión,

soldiers were now interviewed by the digital avatar

os soldados entrevistábanse co avatar dixital

instead of that human health care professional.

no canto de facelo co personal médico.

And what happened? Well, once SimSensei was introduced,

E que aconteceu? Pois cando lles presentaban a SlimSensei,

soldiers reported more health problems,

so soldados informaban de máis problemas de saúde,

like having nightmares or trouble sleeping.

como pesadelos ou dificultade para durmir.

So machines can help remove the social from the equation

As máquinas axudan a eliminar o social da ecuación

and help people open up more easily.

e facilitan que as persoas se abran.

But careful, not all machines are created equal.

Pero coidado, non todas as máquinas son creadas iguais.

Considering the tremendous advancements in technologies like computer graphics

Se nos fixamos nos enormes avances en tecnoloxías como a infografía

or natural language processing,

ou o procesamento da linguaxe natural,

machines have become increasingly humanlike.

as máquinas parécense cada vez máis aos humanos.

The question then ultimately becomes,

En definitiva, a cuestión pasa a ser

which rules do we apply in these interactions?

que regras aplicamos nestas interaccións?

Do we still apply social rules when we interact with humanlike machines?

Seguimos aplicando as normas sociais con esas máquinas de aspecto humano?

So do we start to worry about social judgment again?

E entón volvemos preocuparnos polos xuizos sociais?

This is exactly what I examine in my research.

Isto é precisamente o que estudo nas miñas investigacións.

Together with colleagues, we have developed a series of chatbots.

Os meus colegas e máis eu creamos unha serie de bots de conversa.

These chatbots were programmed to simulate text-based conversations

Estes bots estaban programados para simular conversas escritas

and they were designed to be either very social and humanlike

e estaban deseñados para ser moi sociais e parecerse aos humanos

or very functional and machine-like.

ou moi funcionais como as máquinas.

So, for instance,

Por exemplo,

our humanlike bots use so-called speed disfluencies

os bots humanizados cometen fallos de fluidez

and social language cues,

e usan sinais lingüísticos sociais,

like these "ohos", "ahas", "hmms" we humans love to use in our conversations

como eses “ajá“, “mmm” que os humanos usamos moito nas nosas conversas

to signal our presence to conversation partners.

para indicar a nosa presenza aos outros participantes.

In contrast, our machine-like bots

En cambio, os bots máis mecánicos

lacked such social cues and simply kept to the talking points.

carecían deses sinais sociais e cinguíanse ao tema de discusión.

Since we were interested in how much people would open up

Dado que nos interesaba ver canto se soltaban as persoas

in these different conversations,

nas distintas conversas,

we ask participants a number of questions,

facíamoslles aos participantes unha serie de preguntas,

which gradually grew more and more personal,

que eran cada vez máis persoais,

up to the point where we would ask participants

ata o punto de pedirlles que compartisen

to share possibly very delicate information about themselves.

detalles posiblemente delicados sobre si mesmos.

Now, considering the findings from prior research,

Tendo en conta os resultados de investigacións previas,

such as the one from the US Army before,

como a dos soldados norteamericanos,

we expected that people would apply more social rules

esperabamos que as persoas aplicasen máis normas sociais

in their interactions with these humanlike bots

nas súas interaccións cos bots humanizados

and act accordingly.

e actuasen en consecuencia.

So what did we find?

E que descubrimos?

Well, exactly that.

Pois precisamente iso.

So participants interacting with our humanlike bots

Os participantes que interactuaban cos nosos bots humanizados

were more concerned about social evaluation

estaban máis preocupados pola avaliación social

and as a result of this social apprehension,

e, como consecuencia desta aprehensión social,

they also gave more socially desirable responses.

as súas respostas eran tamén máis socialmente desexables.

Let me give you an example.

Vouvos poñer un exemplo.

One of the most delicate questions that we asked participants

Unha das preguntas máis delicadas que lles faciamos

was the number of prior sex partners they had had.

era o número de parellas sexuais previas.

When interacting with our humanlike bot,

Cando interactuaban cos nosos bots humanizados,

men reported to have significantly more prior sex partners

os homes declaraban un número significativamente maior de parellas

and women reported to have significantly less

e as mulleres un número significativamente menor

than those men and women interacting with our mechanistic bot.

cós homes e mulleres que interactuaban cos bots máis mecánicos.

So what does this all tell us?

Que nos di todo isto?

Well, first, men want to look good by having more prior sex partners

Primeiro, que os homes queren quedar ben tendo máis parellas sexuais previas

and women by having less.

e as mulleres, tendo menos.

Clearly, this already says a lot

Está claro que isto xa di moito

about what the different sexes consider socially desirable

sobre o que cada sexo entende como socialmente desexable

and how our expectations in society still differ across genders.

e sobre como as nosas expectativas sociais seguen a diferir segundo o xénero.

But this opens up a whole new topic

Pero isto lévanos a outro tema totalmente distinto

that I will better leave for other experts to discuss.

que prefiro deixarlles a outros expertos.

Second, and maybe more importantly, from a consumer psychology perspective.

Segundo, se cadra máis importante, desde a psicoloxía do consumidor.

People open up more easily when they interact with machines

As persoas sóltanse máis facilmente cando interactúan con máquinas

that are apparently just that -- machines.

que parecen ser só iso: máquinas.

Today, a lot of sweat, money and tears

Hoxe, moita suor, cartos e bágoas

is put into making machines basically indistinguishable from us.

invístense en construír máquinas practicamente idénticas a nós.

Now, this research can show

Pero esta investigación demostra

that sometimes letting a machine be a machine is actually a good thing.

que ás veces, en realidade, é bo que unha máquina sexa unha máquina.

Which brings me to my third point.

Isto lévame ao meu terceiro punto.

These machine interactions have been highly criticized at times.

Estas interaccións coas máquinas reciben moitas críticas en ocasións.

So you may have heard that Siri, Alexa or others

Se cadra escoitastes algunha vez que Siri, Alexa ou outras

make your kids rude or impolite.

converten aos vosos fillos nuns maleducados.

Hopefully, this research can show you

Con sorte, esta investigación demostrará

a great upside of these machine interactions.

un importante aspecto positivo destas interaccións coas máquinas.

In times of social media and our constant hunt for the next “like,”

Nestes tempos de redes sociais e constante busca doutro “Gústame”,

machines can give us grownups --

as máquinas poden aportarnos aos adultos,

help us find that inner child again

axudarnos a reencontrar ese neno interior

and give our constant need for self-presentation and perfection

e darlle á nosa constante necesidade de presentarnos e ser perfectos

a time-out.

un respiro.

For once, we do not need to worry

Por unha vez, non temos que preocuparnos

if the number of prior sex partners is too high or too low,

por se o número de parellas previas é demasiado alto ou demasiado baixo,

and instead it is OK to simply be who we are.

e, no canto diso, está ben ser simplemente quen somos.

Ultimately, then, I think that these machines can remind us

En última instancia, penso que estas máquinas poden lembrarnos

of a central element of what makes a good conversation partner:

unha característica esencial do bo conversador:

being nonjudgmental.

non xulga ao interlocutor.

so the next time you might encounter

Así que a próxima vez que vos atopedes

a unique social situation like mine at the barbecue,

nunha situación social única como a que vivín eu naquela barbacoa,

try to be less judgmental

tratade de ser menos críticos

when another person openly shares

cando outra persoa comparte abertamente

their thoughts, feelings and problems with you.

os seus pensamentos, sentimentos ou problemas con vós.

Many machines do this already, and maybe so should we.

Moitas máquinas xa fan así e se cadra nós tamén deberiamos.

Thank you very much.

Moitas grazas.