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

DOI

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 \textsc{Familiar} chatbot, presenting itself as a companion remembering past interactions, with a \textsc{Stranger} chatbot, presenting itself as a new, unacquainted entity in each conversation. In a mixed factorial design, participants engaged with either the \textsc{Familiar} or \textsc{Stranger} chatbot in two sessions across two days, with one conversation focusing on \textsc{Emotional}- and another \textsc{Factual}-disclosure. When \textsc{Emotional}-disclosure was sought in the first chatting session, \textsc{Stranger}-condition participants felt more comfortable self-disclosing. However, when \textsc{Factual}-disclosure was sought first, these differences were replaced by more enjoyment among \textsc{Familiar}-condition participants. Qualitative findings showed \textsc{Stranger} afforded anonymity and reduced judgement, whereas \textsc{Familiar} sometimes felt intrusive unless rapport was built via low-risk \textsc{Factual}-disclosure.