Disclosure to conversational agents

Disclosure,  or revealing personal information about oneself, has been found to lead to a wide range of benefits, including increased psychological and physical health. Disclosing to another person who responds in a supportive and validating way is especially beneficial and restorative.

Currently, we are investigating what occurs when disclosing in such a way to a form of technology, rather than to another person. We seek to answer a variety of questions, such as but not limited to: what kinds of effects does this type of disclosure have? How and why do these effects occur? And how can disclosure settings in the future be designed in order to maximize the well-being of the discloser?