Using Emotional Coping Strategies in Intelligent Tutoring Systems

1
Using Emotional Coping Strategies in Intelligent
Tutoring Systems
Soumaya Chaffar Claude Frasson Departement
dInformatique et de Recherche Opérationnelle Univ
ersité de Montréal
Introduction A number of studies showed that user
interactions with computers are close to human
relationships. For example, Reeves and Nass
(1996) argue that users treat computers like real
people 7. In addition, Klein and colleagues
(2002) concluded that computers are strongly able
to regulate negative emotions, even if they are
the sources of these emotions 5. Emotion
regulation is defined by Gross (1998) as the
ability to reduce the high intensity of a given
emotion (negative or positive) and to change it
3. Coping differs from emotion regulation by
focusing only on negative emotions aiming to
reduce negative emotional experiences 1. In
this research work we attempt to discuss the
benefit of using emotional coping strategies in
ITS. We try to compare the effect of
emotion-focused strategies with the
problem-focused one on the leaners emotional
state.
Results and discussion EMG is the most studied
and validated physiological measure for
indicating the valence even in the absence of
facial expressions 4. Thus, we have used this
signal for analysing in more detail the learners
emotional changes (see Table 2) after the tutors
actions 2. Table 2. ANOVAs Results of EMG
signal recorded before, during and after applying
a coping strategy.
Experiment Three kinds of emotion-focused and two
kinds of problem-focused strategies have been
used in this experiment depending on stressful
situations facing the learner. During his
interaction with an ITS, a learner might be
subject to many stressful experiences. It is
therefore important to act following an emotional
situation to alleviate possible negative emotions
by adapting instruction to learners needs or
reassuring them after receiving their
marks. Table 1. Emotional coping strategies
used in the experiment.
During the comprehension activity, we can
conclude that it is recommended to use a
problem-focused strategy in order to induce
positive emotions in the learner.
A total of twenty-nine graduate students (17
male/12 female, aged 22-40 years) in computer
science were experienced in two emotional
situations misunderstanding of a data structure
course and obtaining marks in a data structure
evaluation test. These two situations might
significantly affect students emotional state
and their performances 6. As some participants
randomly experienced several emotional situations
depending on their request for help in
understanding different sorting algorithms, our
sample data is composed of 73 instances.
Conclusion we conclude that there are significant
positive effects after using emotional coping
strategies on participants emotional state, with
95 of confidence. Thus, we assume that including
emotional coping strategies in ITS would be
beneficial for learning.
Emotional modules in ITS architecture An ITS is
based on a quadripartite architecture a learner
model describing the learners profile, a
teaching model which plans instructional steps to
the learner, a domain model including the
knowledge to be learned and an interface
representing communication modalities. We seek to
integrate emotional modules in such architecture
in order to improve learners performances.
Acknowledgements We address our thanks to the
Fond Québecois pour la Recherche sur la Nature et
la Technologie (FQRNT) for supporting this
research work.
A virtual tutor was used in this experiment
attempting to influence the learners emotional
state in the two situations the first one when
the learner needs help to understand a sorting
algorithm (initial actions) and the second one
when the learner obtained his mark after passing
an evaluation test (final actions).
References 1 Blair, K. A., Denham, S. A.,
Kochanoff, A., Whipple, B. Playing it cool
Temperament, emotion regulation and social
behavior in preschoolers. Journal of School
Psychology, 42, 419-443 (2004) 2 Chaffar, S.,
Derbali, L., Frasson, C. Towards Emotional
Regulation in Intelligent Tutoring Systems. AACE
World Conference on E-learning in Corporate,
Government, Healthcare, Higher Education
E-LEARN 2009, Vancouver, Canada (2009) 3 Gross,
J. J. The Emerging Field of Emotion Regulation
An Integrative Review. Review of General
Psychology, 2, 271-299 (1998) 4 Hazlett, R. L.,
Benedek, J. Measuring emotional valence to
understand the user's experience of software,
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
65 (2007) 5 Klein, J., Moon, Y., Picard, R. W.
This computer responds to user frustration
theory, design, and results. Interacting with
Computers, 14, 119-140 (2002) 6 Perry, P.,
Hechter, F. J., Menec, V. H., Weinberg, L. H.
Enhancing achievement motivation and performance
in college students An attributional retraining
perspective. Research in Higher Education, 34,
687-723 (1993) 7 Reeves, B., Nass, C. The
media Equation How people Treat Computers,
Television, and New Media Like Real People and
Places, Cambridge University Press (1996)