Personality perception through prosodic features and eye movements: A cognitive constructionism approach using a social robot

This study introduces a novel "cognitive constructionism" approach that integrates methodologies from psychology and robotics to explore the impact of non-verbal cues on personality perception. By systematically manipulating prosodic features and gaze behavior in a social robot, we investigated how variations in these non-verbal signals influence human perceptions of distinct personality traits. Specifically, we examined the extent to which gaze and vocal characteristics shape the attribution of three personality types: resilient, average, and delicate. The resilient type is characterized by extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness-to-experience, whereas the delicate type represents the opposite. The average type reflects moderate levels across all five traits. In Study 1 (n = 523), we identified combinations of voice parameters—speech rate, pitch height, and pitch range—that were associated with perceptions of resilient and average personality prototypes. While the delicate type did not show a fully distinct pattern, most of its traits aligned sufficiently to allow classification. Study 2 (n = 234) revealed that specific directions of eye movement influenced personality perceptions, although deviations in gaze parameters had minimal effects. Study 3 examined the combined effects of voice and gaze on personality perceptions (n = 271). The results demonstrated that resilient-type voices were more strongly perceived when paired with straight gaze, average-type voices with horizontal gaze, and delicate-type voices with right under gaze. Utilizing the cognitive constructionism approach, this study demonstrated that gaze behavior and vocal characteristics jointly influence personality perception in a complex, non-additive manner, with their interactions varying across personality traits. • We propose a novel “cognitive constructionism” approach using a social robot. • The speech and gaze properties effective on personality perception were specified. • Perception of three typical personality prototypes was produced. • The approach allows us to conduct accurate and replicable psychological research. • This result can contribute to implementing robots with personality.