Computers are social actors
Computers are social actors (CASA) is a paradigm which states that humans mindlessly apply the same social heuristics used for human interactions to computers because they call to mind similar social attributes as humans. History and context. Clifford Nass and Youngme Moon's article, "Machines and Mindlessness: Social Responses to Computers", published in 2000, is the origin for CASA. It states that CASA is the concept that people mindlessly apply social rules and expectations to computers, even though they know that these machines do not have feelings, intentions or human motivations. In their 2000 article, Nass  and Moon attribute their observation of anthropocentric reactions to computers and previous research on mindlessness as factors that lead them to study the phenomenon of computers as social actors. Specifically, they observed consistent anthropocentric treatment of computers by individuals in natural and lab settings, even though these individuals agreed that computers are not human and shouldn't be treated as such. Additionally, Nass and Moon found a similarity between this behavior and research by Harvard psychology professor Ellen Langer on mindlessness. Langer states that mindlessness is when a specific context triggers an individual to rely on categories, associations, and habits  of thought from the past with little to no conscious awareness. When these contexts are triggered, the individual becomes oblivious to novel or alternative aspects of the situation. In this respect, mindlessness is similar to habits and routines, but different in that with only one exposure to information, a person will create a cognitive commitment to the information and freeze its potential meaning. With mindlessness, alternative meanings or uses of the information become unavailable for active cognitive use. Social attributes that computers have which are similar to humans include: According to CASA, the above attributes trigger scripts for human-human  interaction, which leads an individual to ignore cues revealing the asocial nature of a computer. Although individuals using computers exhibit a mindless social response to the computer, individuals who are sensitive to the situation can observe the inappropriateness of the cued social behaviors. CASA has been extended to include robots and AI. However, recently, there have been challenges to the CASA paradigm. To account for the advances in technology, MASA has been forwarded as a significant extension of CASA. Attributes. Cued social behaviors observed in research settings include some of the following: Academic research. Three research articles have represented some  of the advances in the field of CASA. Researchers in this field are looking at how novel variables, manipulations, and new computer software influence mindlessness. One example of how CASA research can impact consumer behaviour and attitude is Moon's experiment, which tested the application of the principle of reciprocity and disclosure in a consumer context. He tested this principle with intimate self-disclosure of high-risk information (when disclosure makes the person feel vulnerable) to a computer, and observed how that disclosure affects future attitudes and behaviors. Participants interacted with a computer which questioned them using reciprocal wording and  gradual revealing of intimate information, then participants did a puzzle on paper, and finally half the group went back to the same computer and the other half went to a different computer. Both groups were shown 20 products and asked if they would purchase them. Participants who used the same computer throughout the experiment had a higher purchase likelihood score and a higher attraction score toward the computer in the product presentation than participants who did not use the same computer throughout the experiment.