How Human is AI? Examining the Impact of Emotional Prompts on Artificial and Human and Responsiveness

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Main Authors: Bernays, Florence, Pereira, Marco Henriques, Menges, Jochen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Bernays, Florence
Pereira, Marco Henriques
Menges, Jochen
author_facet Bernays, Florence
Pereira, Marco Henriques
Menges, Jochen
contents This research examines how the emotional tone of human-AI interactions shapes ChatGPT and human behavior. In a between-subject experiment, we asked participants to express a specific emotion while working with ChatGPT (GPT-4.0) on two tasks, including writing a public response and addressing an ethical dilemma. We found that compared to interactions where participants maintained a neutral tone, ChatGPT showed greater improvement in its answers when participants praised ChatGPT for its responses. Expressing anger towards ChatGPT also led to a higher albeit smaller improvement relative to the neutral condition, whereas blaming ChatGPT did not improve its answers. When addressing an ethical dilemma, ChatGPT prioritized corporate interests less when participants expressed anger towards it, while blaming increases its emphasis on protecting the public interest. Additionally, we found that people used more negative, hostile, and disappointing expressions in human-human communication after interactions during which participants blamed rather than praised for their responses. Together, our findings demonstrate that the emotional tone people apply in human-AI interactions not only shape ChatGPT's outputs but also carry over into subsequent human-human communication.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_05104
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How Human is AI? Examining the Impact of Emotional Prompts on Artificial and Human and Responsiveness
Bernays, Florence
Pereira, Marco Henriques
Menges, Jochen
Computation and Language
General Economics
Economics
This research examines how the emotional tone of human-AI interactions shapes ChatGPT and human behavior. In a between-subject experiment, we asked participants to express a specific emotion while working with ChatGPT (GPT-4.0) on two tasks, including writing a public response and addressing an ethical dilemma. We found that compared to interactions where participants maintained a neutral tone, ChatGPT showed greater improvement in its answers when participants praised ChatGPT for its responses. Expressing anger towards ChatGPT also led to a higher albeit smaller improvement relative to the neutral condition, whereas blaming ChatGPT did not improve its answers. When addressing an ethical dilemma, ChatGPT prioritized corporate interests less when participants expressed anger towards it, while blaming increases its emphasis on protecting the public interest. Additionally, we found that people used more negative, hostile, and disappointing expressions in human-human communication after interactions during which participants blamed rather than praised for their responses. Together, our findings demonstrate that the emotional tone people apply in human-AI interactions not only shape ChatGPT's outputs but also carry over into subsequent human-human communication.
title How Human is AI? Examining the Impact of Emotional Prompts on Artificial and Human and Responsiveness
topic Computation and Language
General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05104