摘要：The article presents results of three experiments investigating whether a virtual social presence (virtualassistant) has a similar influence on task performance as the physical presence of another human. Theexperiments were designed based on Zajonc's (1965, 1980) theory of social facilitation and social inhibition.Three levels of task difficulty were used. Two aspects of task performance - motor and cognitive - weretaken into consideration, with expectations of different effects of social presence on both. Two experimentsconfirmed the activating impact of the presence of a real person on the speed of difficult task performance,and one of them - also identical influence of a virtual assistant. The third experiment revealed differencesin accuracy in a very difficult task depending on observation by a human observer or by a virtual assistant.However, it was impossible to prove fully whether a virtual assistant might be a substitute for a real socialpresence, as its impact was observed occasionally. The results confirmed assumptions that the real socialpresence is impossible to ignore and influences the task performance depending on level of task difficulty.Explanation of the observed effects and directions for future research are discussed.
其他摘要：W artykule przedstawiono wyniki trzech badan eksperymentalnych majacych na celu sprawdzenie, czy wir-tualna obecnosc spoleczna w postaci wirtualnego asystenta moze wywierac taki sam wplyw na skutecznoscdzialania jak fizyczna obecnosc innego czlowieka. Eks
关键词：social presence;virtual social presence;virtual assistant;social facilitation;social inhibition
