Translating Data into Feelings: Empathetic Character Gauges Transform Real-Time Electricity and Water Use into Emotions Designed to Motivate Conservation

Sustainable resource use decisions depend as much on emotion as on analytical reasoning, yet most resource-use displays convey only quantitative information. We evaluated “empathetic character gauges,” animated characters whose expressions and behavior change in response to real-time electricity and water consumption to convey and evoke emotions. Three studies assessed their appeal, comprehensibility, and psychological impact. In Study 1 (N = 103), a simple expressive face was rated the most interesting and least boring of three displays, while a conventional needle gauge ranked lowest on most attributes despite being seen as most informative. In Study 2 (N = 79), viewers accurately described how the character’s emotions tracked energy use and reported significantly greater connectedness to nature following exposure than those who saw a non-character animation. Study 3, a field study of 79 elementary students (some exposed daily to the characters, some not) found that exposed students reported more sadness in response to high resource use at school and spontaneously described the characters as speaking to both their own and their community’s resource use; unexposed students did neither. Together, these studies suggest empathetic character gauges are more engaging than conventional displays, are accurately interpreted, and shift psychological responses that precede conservation behavior.