Do commands to AI erode our manners?

Description

Does user-enacted HAI style spill over into interpersonal expression? Specifically, does command prompting increase directness and reduce politeness? If so, through what mechanism, and how far does the risk extend? Four experiments tested these questions. Experiment 1a (N = 69) manipulated prompting style (command vs. polite prompting) to test its effect on subsequent interpersonal expression. Experiment 1b used a 3 (prompting style: command vs. polite vs. neutral prompting) × 2 (HAI enactment: HAI vs. no-HAI) between-subjects design (N = 240) to distinguish enacted HAI style from instruction-based priming. Using a representative sample of Chinese adult AI users (N = 180), Experiment 2a employed a 2 (prompting style: command vs. polite prompting; between-subjects) × 3 (interpersonal message style: highly direct/commanding vs. moderate vs. highly polite/mitigated; within-subjects) mixed design to test the effects of prompting style on appropriateness evaluations, anticipated negative interpersonal consequences, and perceived mitigation costs. Experiment 2b (N = 128) manipulated perceived interpersonal communication norms (directness-appropriate vs. mitigation-appropriate) to test their causal effect on subsequent expression. Together, Experiments 2a and 2b tested norm-perception recalibration as the mechanism linking HAI style to subsequent interpersonal expression. Hypothesis 1: Command (vs. polite) prompting increases directness (H1a) and reduces politeness (H1b) in users’ subsequent interpersonal expression. Hypothesis 2: Command (vs. polite) prompting increases the perceived appropriateness of highly direct interpersonal messages. Hypothesis 3: Perceived appropriateness of direct expression increases directness (H3a) and reduces politeness (H3b) in subsequent interpersonal expression. Hypothesis 4: Perceived appropriateness of direct expression mediates the effect of prompting style on subsequent interpersonal expression. Hypothesis 5: Command (vs. polite) prompting reduces anticipated negative interpersonal consequences associated with highly direct interpersonal messages. Hypothesis 6: Command (vs. polite) prompting increases perceived mitigation costs associated with highly polite interpersonal messages. The findings showed that (1) relative to polite prompting, command prompting increased directness and reduced politeness and mitigation; (2) it increased the perceived appropriateness of highly direct messages, reduced their anticipated negative interpersonal consequences, and increased perceived mitigation costs across all message types; (3) perceiving direct expression as common and acceptable led individuals to communicate more directly and less politely, with less mitigation, supporting the causal chain “HAI style → recalibration of perceived communication norms → interpersonal expression”; and (4) normative spillover lowered the acceptance threshold for highly direct expression rather than broadly eroding politeness norms.

Institutions

• Fujian Business University

  Fujian, Fuzhou
• Xiamen University of Technology

  Fujian, Xiamen

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