Can a Funny Chatbot Make a Difference? Infusing Humor into Conversational Agent for Behavioral Intervention

Regular physical activity is crucial for reducing the risk of non-communicable disease (NCD). With NCDs on the rise globally, there is an urgent need for effective health interventions, with chatbots emerging as a viable and cost-effective option because of limited healthcare accessibility. Although health professionals often utilize behavior change techniques (BCTs) to boost physical activity levels and enhance client engagement and motivation by affiliative humor, the efficacy of humor in chatbot-delivered interventions is not well-understood. This study conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of the generative humorous communication style in a 10-day chatbot-delivered intervention for physical activity. It further investigated if user engagement and motivation act as mediators between the communication style and changes in physical activity levels. 66 participants engaged with the chatbots across three groups (humorous, non-humorous, and no-intervention) and responded to daily ecological momentary assessment questionnaires assessing engagement, motivation, and physical activity levels. Multilevel time series analyses revealed that an affiliative humorous communication style positively impacted physical activity levels over time, with user engagement acting as a mediator in this relationship, whereas motivation did not. These findings clarify the role of humorous communication style in chatbot-delivered physical activity interventions, offering valuable insights for future development of intelligent conversational agents incorporating humor.