Using Theory of Mind Methods to Investigate Empathic engagement with Synthetic Characters

This paper is concerned with the simulation of human-like capabilities in synthetic characters within the domain of Personal and Social Education. Our aim was to achieve socially meaningful and engaging interactions with children in the 8-12 age group to enable an exploration of bullying and coping strategies. In this paper, we consider the engagement between the interacting partners, focusing particularly on the affective and empathic aspects of this relationship. We have used Theory of Mind methods to enable us to evaluate children’s understanding of social scenarios and the thinking of others. The results from this 345 children study highlight that children are able to recognise and interpret affect in synthetic characters and are empathically engaged with the characters in the scenarios.