Ascribed Gender and Characteristics of a Visually Androgynous Teachable Agent

This paper explores how users ascribe gender to a visually androgynous teachable agent, and if and how the ascribed gender can influence the perceived personality characteristics of the agent. Previous studies have shown positive effects of using agents with more neutral or androgynous appearances, for instance, a more gender neutral agent evoked more positive attitudes on females than did a more stereotypical female agent [1] and that androgynous agents are less abused than female agents [2]. Another study showed that even though an agent was visually androgynous, the user typically ascribed a gender to it [3]. We wanted to further explore the use of visually androgynous agents where the user can choose to ascribe them a gender, and how the ascribed gender affects how the agent is perceived. A pilot study was conducted in a Swedish primary school with 11-year olds, 21 girls and 16 boys. The agent used in this study was a teachable agent (TA), acting as a tutee in an educational software for learning history. The TA, see Fig 1. portrayed as a time elf, needs help to learn about history in order to succeed as the new “Guardian of Time”. The students can teach the TA using different teaching activities as well as asking the TA to take tests in order to receive feedback on how well they have taught their TA.