AI identity on anxiety relief

The present study investigated whether identity influenced the effectiveness of counseling techniques in alleviating anxiety. To this end, we aimed at conducting two designs: (a) Study 1 sought to manipulate identity labels (AI therapist vs. human therapist), levels of cognitive restructuring (high vs. low), and levels of empathy (high vs. low) to examine their effects on test anxiety; (b) Study 2 aimed at manipulating the identities levels as AI identity and a familiar social role (i.e., a friend named "Xiao Li") to explore whether identity moderates the emotional pathways (e.g., empathy) underlying comforting effectiveness for test anxiety. The tested hypothesis included: (a) the identity of AI may (or may not) impair the comforting effectiveness; (b) AI identity may (or may not) moderate the effects of techniques (e.g., empathy) on the comforting effectiveness for anxious mood.