The Impact of a Chatbot's Ephemerality-Framing on Self-Disclosure Perceptions

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2505.20464v1
• Date: Mon, 26 May 2025 19:00:49 GMT
• Title: The Impact of a Chatbot's Ephemerality-Framing on Self-Disclosure Perceptions
• Authors: Samuel Rhys Cox, Rune Møberg Jacobsen, Niels van Berkel,
• Abstract summary: We investigated how a chatbots's description of its relationship with users affects self-disclosure.<n>We compared Familiar and Stranger, which presented themselves as unacquainted entities in each conversation.<n>When Emotional-disclosure was sought in the first chatting session, Stranger-condition participants felt more comfortable self-disclosing.<n>But when Factual-disclosure was sought first, these differences were replaced by more enjoyment among Familiar-condition participants.
• Score: 17.836384420199316
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Self-disclosure, the sharing of one's thoughts and feelings, is affected by the perceived relationship between individuals. While chatbots are increasingly used for self-disclosure, the impact of a chatbot's framing on users' self-disclosure remains under-explored. We investigated how a chatbot's description of its relationship with users, particularly in terms of ephemerality, affects self-disclosure. Specifically, we compared a Familiar chatbot, presenting itself as a companion remembering past interactions, with a Stranger chatbot, presenting itself as a new, unacquainted entity in each conversation. In a mixed factorial design, participants engaged with either the Familiar or Stranger chatbot in two sessions across two days, with one conversation focusing on Emotional- and another Factual-disclosure. When Emotional-disclosure was sought in the first chatting session, Stranger-condition participants felt more comfortable self-disclosing. However, when Factual-disclosure was sought first, these differences were replaced by more enjoyment among Familiar-condition participants. Qualitative findings showed Stranger afforded anonymity and reduced judgement, whereas Familiar sometimes felt intrusive unless rapport was built via low-risk Factual-disclosure.

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