# Agents facilitate one category of human empathy through task difficulty

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.06128 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.06128/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 13 Jun 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Developing Social Robots with Empathetic Non-Verbal Cues Using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.16529/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

One way to improve the relationship between humans and anthropomorphic agents is to have humans empathize with the agents. In this study, we focused on a task between agents and humans. We experimentally investigated hypotheses stating that task difficulty and task content facilitate human empathy. The experiment was a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with four conditions: task difficulty (high, low) and task content (competitive, cooperative). The results showed no main effect for the task content factor and a significant main effect for the task difficulty factor. In addition, pre-task empathy toward the agent decreased after the task. The ANOVA showed that one category of empathy toward the agent increased when the task difficulty was higher than when it was lower.This indicated that this category of empathy was more likely to be affected by the task. The task itself used can be an important factor when manipulating each category of empathy.