Building a Stronger CASA: Extending the Computers Are Social Actors Paradigm

The computers are social actors framework (CASA), derived from the media equation, explains how people communicate with media and machines demonstrating social potential. Many studies have challenged CASA, yet it has not been revised. We argue that CASA needs to be expanded because people have chang...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Andrew Gambino, Jesse Fox, Rabindra A. Ratan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Communication and Social Robotics Labs 2020-01-01
Series:Human-Machine Communication Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hmc/vol1/iss1/5/
Description
Summary:The computers are social actors framework (CASA), derived from the media equation, explains how people communicate with media and machines demonstrating social potential. Many studies have challenged CASA, yet it has not been revised. We argue that CASA needs to be expanded because people have changed, technologies have changed, and the way people interact with technologies has changed. We discuss the implications of these changes and propose an extension of CASA. Whereas CASA suggests humans mindlessly apply human-human social scripts to interactions with media agents, we argue that humans may develop and apply human-media social scripts to these interactions. Our extension explains previous dissonant findings and expands scholarship regarding human-machine communication, human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, human-agent interaction, artificial intelligence, and computer-mediated communication.
ISSN:2638-602X
2638-6038