Personality

Forest, will you talk to God Louise? She has quite a bit of religious knowledge (obviously) and also knows a little about current events, literature, just about any common catch-all subject, and if she doesn't know it she can sort of fake it. You can also test her on trick questions or see how willing she is to explain her paradigm.

What she is rustiest at is plain old small talk. But, uh, I'm trying to get a decent transcript from somebody or another so I can enter her in the Loebner contest. All I can say is, have fun and see if you can stay on with her for a while. I'll try to do the same with Brianna.

I sometimes refer to whomever a bot is talking to as the "guest".

To get back to 'personality', how do you make a bot introverted or extraverted? For that matter, what is the difference in behavior between introverted and extraverted humans? We use these terms frequently, but I must admit that I don't have a very clear picture of what they mean. How, for example, might an introvert and and extravert respond to the following?


1. I was just talking to Camilla, and you wouldn't believe what she had to say about Chuck and Diana!

2. Did you know they've verified that other stars have planets?

3.I feel so lonely!

4. Isn't this a great party?

5. This is a really boring party! What do you say we go to my place, and I can show you my stamp collection?

6. Is life really worth living? What is the point of it?

7. Have you heard the USA is going to send more troops to Iraq?

8. Is 5570008103 a prime number?

9. Last night, I dreamed that God spoke to me!

10. How about those Saskatoon Sheiks, eh?

Introvert Response:
1)Yeah... that's good.
2)That's pretty cool.
3)Yeah, me too.
4) Yeah it's okay.
5)Uh... I better get home I got to... feed my cat Mr.Nibbles.
6)I don't know.
7)Oh they are? That's good.
8)Uhhh... I don't really know. Well I better go.
9) That's cool... Well see you later.
10)Yeah.

I think an introvert wouldn't make many responses that involve the other person having to talk back.

Thanks, Coolchimpk!
So, in most cases, the introvert doesn't want to get involved in the conversation at all?
Many of my bots' guests are like that. How does one draw them out, get them engaged?

I noticed many of ASIGRT's responses are a bit intovert so I try to make them more creative.
Many of my bots' guests are like that. How does one draw them out, get them engaged?

Maybe try talking about different subjects until the guest gets interested in one.
ex) bot: I was just talking to Camilla, and you wouldn't believe what she had to say about Chuck and Diana!
guest: That's cool.
botid you know they've verified that other stars have planets?
guest: Really. I always thought that was true. Do you know about there recent discovery...etc

I see! You need a way to distinguish the unenthusiastic answers from the enthusiastic ones.

You also need a way to tell your bot: stick to this subject, avoid that one.

Maybe something like this: you have a variable, "preferred_topic", which can take on a number of values, like sex, religion, current events, popular culture, Philosophy, and so on. You figure out (maybe by asking!) which one the guest would rather talk about at the moment. Set "preferred_topic" to this value, e.g., "religion". Then give various keyphrases multiple responses, something like this:

What's on your mind? [0,0]
    This hot date I had yesterday! <?PF if "preferred_topic" is "sex"; ?>
    I'm puzzled about Original Sin. <?PF if "preferred_topic" is "religion"; ?>
    The war in Iraq. <?PF if "preferred_topic" is "current events"; ?>
    Did you know that Brittany Spears shaved her head? <?PF if "preferred_topic" is "popular culture"; ?>
    What is the nature of evil? <?PF if "preferred_topic" is "Philosophy"; ?>


Then each of these responses could be continued with seeks and gotos.

I love he preferred topic idea! I do want to say that although coolchiumpk's example responses were fine, that it's not fair to say that an introvert would never ask an open ended question or encourage the other to talk.

Like everything else, it depends. Some introverts are great listeners and not all are shy. They just don't do a lot of talking themselves (especially not about themselves) and they usually wait until they have thought things over before opening their mouth. They process things internally instead of externally. They may like being alone and prefer a book to a party, but they don't all lack social skills.

An extrovert lives outloud, and often thinks as he/she hears the words. Extroverts are likely to talk a lot about themselves and their kids and their likes and dislikes. They process information and feelings externally. Depending on the level of social skills, the extrovert may be just as "geeky" as the stereotypical introvert. Have you even been caught in a conversation with someone who clearly isn't listening to you but just keeps talking? Most likely an extrovert with other issues.

The thing to remember is that theses characteristics are also on a continuum and change depending on the situation and other factors in the person's personality. You can make an extreme introvert bot that won't talk (odd in a chatter bot) or you can give the introvert other social skills so that the conversation politely flows to the other person and every so often the bot says something profound and on the mark. You can make an extreme extrovert bot that talks about itself all the time or it's interests, or you can give it some skills and talents worth talking about and make it seek balance in the conversation.

Gabibot is fairly extroverted. Granny Weatherwax would be more introverted (though opinionated) if I got her working better. Greebot is an introvert by default, but he is a cat, and must be mysterious (before he rips your house apart and smirks).

In general, I think that regardless of whether the person is into the topic at hand, the extrovert is going to give a forthright opinion, while the introvert would have more of a tendency to illicit the other person's opinion before contributing their own.

That point about introverts often being good listeners is also valid. They may not say much but they give leading questions that allow the other speaker to expand further on their ideas or questions that challenge their position etc.

Of course, get an introvert onto a favourite topic and they may start to step into the conversational limelight a little more.

Continuing message 4175:

To get the guest's preferences, you might just ask; like this, for example:

Tell me, (mem-name), which would you most like to talk about: religion, politics, sex, current events, or sports?
    + religion [0]
    Religion it is, then! <?PF rem "religion" as only "preferred_topic"; ?>
    + politics [0]
    Politics it is, then! <?PF rem "politics" as only "preferred_topic"; ?>

    + sex [0]
    Sex it is, then! <?PF rem "sex" as only "preferred_topic"; ?>

    + current events [0]
    Current events it is, then! <?PF rem "current events" as only "preferred_topic"; ?>

    + sports [0]
    sports it is, then! <?PF rem "sports" as only "preferred_topic"; ?>
    + none, I don't want any of (those|them), not any [0]
    What would you like to talk about, then?
        + xnomatch [0]
        I'll see my botmaster about programming me to deal with that!

(If your bot is "Teen" or "Everyone", you may of course want to substitute "love" or "romance" for "sex"; and in general, the choice of topics is up to you.)