Synthetic relationships with Social Pedagogical Agents in education: a scoping literature review

Synthetic relationships with SPAs function as enabling conditions that enhance the learning climate-motivation, effort, and honesty-rather than directly improving test scores. We group the eight design levers into four categories: expressive (how the agent signals), relational (how it connects), transparency (what it communicates and why), and structural (how interaction unfolds). These, paired with the four relational indicators, form a practical framework for optimizing student-SPA relationships. Future work should prioritize multi-session and longitudinal designs, standardize relational measures, and address ethical concerns around purpose, transparency, influence limits, and shared oversight. When coupled with sound pedagogy, SPAs show strong potential to augment teaching and enrich learning.