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Swidrak, JCorresponding AuthorInsabato AAuthor

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Does an agent’s touch always matter? Study on virtual Midas touch, masculinity, social status, and compliance in Polish men

Publicated to:Journal On Multimodal User Interfaces. 15 (2): 163-174 - 2021-06-01 15(2), DOI: 10.1007/s12193-020-00351-x

Authors: Swidrak, J; Pochwatko, G; Insabato, A

Affiliations

Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer - IDIBAPS - Author
Polish Academy of Sciences - Author
Universitat de Barcelona - Author
‎ August Pi & Sunyer Biomed Res Inst IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain - Author
‎ Polish Acad Sci, Inst Psychol, Warsaw, Poland - Author
‎ Univ Barcelona, Fac Psychol, Expt Virtual Environm Neurosci & Technol, Barcelona, Spain - Author
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Abstract

© 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Traditional gender roles that define what is feminine and masculine also imply that men have higher social status than women. These stereotypes still influence how people interact with each other and with computers. Touch behaviour, essential in social interactions, is an interesting example of such social behaviours. The Midas touch effect describes a situation when a brief touch is used to influence one’s behaviour. Our study aimed to analyse the influence of virtual touch on compliance in men in a decision-making game called Ultimatum. In a series of three studies, we investigated whether social cues such as gender, stereotypical masculine/feminine appearance, and high/low social status modify compliance to offers from embodied agents. We built an immersive version of a repeated Ultimatum game in which a proposer offers how to split ten coins, and a responder accepts or rejects the offer. In study 1, men and women played with a female and a male agent. In study 2 and 3, men played with four agents each, differing in gender and levels of stereotypically seen masculinity and social status. There was no significant touch effect. Compliance was secured mostly by the value of the offer: the more generous the offer, the higher the compliance rate. We also found evidence for the perceived masculinity and social status influence. We also describe relationships between agents’ characteristics and the perception of their touch. The results are discussed in the context of social characteristics that are important in agent design and the effectiveness of social influence techniques in virtual reality.

Keywords

Embodied agentsMasculinitySexSocial influenceSocial statusVirtual touch

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Journal On Multimodal User Interfaces, and although the journal is classified in the quartile Q4 (Agencia WoS (JCR)), its regional focus and specialization in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, give it significant recognition in a specific niche of scientific knowledge at an international level.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 1.7, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-27, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 4
  • Scopus: 5

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-27:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 30 (PlumX).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Poland.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Swidrak, Justyna) and Last Author (Insabato, Andrea).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Swidrak, Justyna.