Storytelling is a universal activity, but the way in which discourse structure is used to persuasively convey ideas and emotions may depend on cultural factors. Because first-person accounts of life experiences can have a powerful impact in how a person is perceived, the storyteller may instinctively employ specific strategies to shape the audience's perception.Hypothesizing that some of the differences in storytelling can be captured by the use of narrative levels and subjectivity, we analyzed over one thousand narratives taken from personal weblogs. First, we compared stories from three different cultures written in their native languages: English, Chinese and Farsi. Second, we examined the impact of these two discourse properties on a reader's attitude and behavior toward the narrator. We found surprising similarities and differences in how stories are structured along these two dimensions across cultures. These discourse properties have a small but significant impact on a reader's behavioral response toward the narrator.

In this study, we manipulated gain/loss framing context duringa simulated negotiation between a human user and a virtualagent. Task instructions placed users either in a loss or gainframed context, such that those in the loss frame had tominimize expenses whereas those in the gain frame had tomaximize profits. The virtual agent displayed facial emotionsso that we could also test how interpersonal emotions interactwith framing. Results suggest that individuals are moremotivated to minimize their losses than maximizing their gains.The loss frame caused individuals to demand more during thenegotiation, hence to minimize expenses. Neurophysiologicalresults suggest that cardiovascular patterns of challenge (i.e.,positive motivations) were present in the loss frame condition,most strongly when the virtual human smiled. We discuss theseresults in regards to Prospect Theory. This work also hasimplications for designing and rigorously evaluating human-like virtual agents.