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Article on IEEE Intelligent Systems, issue No.02 – Mar-Apr (2014 vol.29), pp: 36-43
By Yinping Yang, Horacio Falcao, Nuno Delicado, Andrew Ortony
Abstract: Face-to-face negotiations always benefit if the interacting individuals trust each other. But trust is also important in online interactions, even for humans interacting with a computational agent. In this paper we describe a behavioral experiment to determine whether, by volunteering information that it need not disclose, a software agent in a multi-issue negotiation can alleviate mistrust in human counterparts who differ in their propensities to mistrust others. Results indicated that when cynical, mistrusting humans negotiated with an agent that proactively communicated its issue priority and invited reciprocation, there were significantly more agreements and better utilities than when the agent did not volunteer such information. Furthermore, when the agent volunteered its issue priority, the outcomes for mistrusting individuals were as good as those for trusting individuals, for whom the volunteering of issue priority conferred no advantage. These findings provide insights for designing more effective, socially intelligent, agents in online negotiation settings.