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... the response we often seek is not an answer to a question or a compliance with a request but an appreciation of a show put on. (Erving Goffman, Frame analysis, p. 546)

In the context of HUMAINE, I am doing research on Emotions in Social Interaction. Sociology tells us that people pursue complex goals in interaction, of which the ãcontentÒ is only a small part. In Affect Control Theory, for example, the interplay of interaction and emotion is seem from the viewpoint of ãpresentation of selfÒ (Goffman) and is based on the principle that ãIndividuals create events to confirm the sentiments that they have about themselves and others in the current situation (David Heise). Sentiment, here, is a fundamental affective meaning which is part of a cultureÕs construction of reality. Interaction with others (re)constructs the shared cultural sentiments but also influences the individualÕs sentiment. It follows that emotions are not by-products, but Ð together with the propositional content Ð the driving forces that influence the process and outcome of the interaction.

For the design of affective human-machine interaction, we have to know much more about the interplay between the affective meaning of social roles (of computers and humans) and the plans that interactants carry out to reach their combined social and material goals. On the other hand, I assume that such knowledge can help to restrict the interpretation space of user emotions.

My pre- and extra-HUMAINE work at OFAI in the domain of ECAs is mainly concerned with intercultural aspects of human-agent interaction (Agent Culture) and embodied educational agents.