Should error messages apologize?

This question is complex and involves, in my view, two main aspects:

• the cultural context in which human-computer interaction is inserted.
• the context of use (error, informational alert, etc.) that made it necessary to display the message to the user.

About the cultural context...

First, it must be considered that there are significant cultural differences with respect to the act of apologizing. There are studies comparing American and Japanese cultures that show that in certain situations (such as when someone picks up a pen that you knocked down) Americans use the word thanks (thank you) to express gratitude while Japanese use the word sumimasen (sorry) to express a similar feeling - albeit under a cultural meaning of humility or subjugation (Sugimoto, Naomi. "Sorry we apologize so much": Linguistic Factors Affecting Japanese and U.S. American Styles of Apology. Intercultural Communication Studies VIII-1, 1998).

I have tried to find similar material comparing other cultures with Latin cultures, but I have not found it (maybe these studies are not yet common around here). In any case, from my own experience I believe that this same distinction also exists with regard to our culture: I have English and French friends who do not have the slightest modesty to invite only part from a group to a children's party (in front of the others, uninvited because they do not fit the "having children" condition); in this same scenario, we latinos would make the invitation individually and privately or apologize for not inviting singles and couples without children.

The fact is that the excuse is an important social lubricant, the character of which in the interaction also serves as a way of indicating the real intention of the interlocutor (something like "I really did not want to tell you"). it is traditionally used to initiate a conversation considering a possible interruption of any introspection/activity of the recipient of the message (Wagatsuma, Hiroshi and Rosett, Arthur. "The Implications of Apology: Law and Culture in Japan and the United States". Law & Society Review, v. 20, N. 4, 1986). Especially in relation to Japanese culture, the apology is considered necessary to " prepare the atmosphere" from the interaction ( " Why Japanese apologize so often?", Facebook Note-Japanese Language & Culture, 2008), but again I believe that this also happens in Latin culture when we start a conversation ("sorry sir, what time is it?"it does not necessarily indicate a fault or fault, and it has for us pretty much the same meaning as" excuse me sir, what time is it?").

About the context of use...

In addition to the cultural context, also consider that the presentation of the message aims to communicate to the user (read "the man") some relevant information of the condition in which the application (read "the computer") is. In other words, it is a human-computer interaction initiated by the computer. For a little over 10 years, computer scientists have been interested in research related to user experience and Affective Computing , and more and more research has focused on he believes that the hedonic, emotional and social character of the interaction is fundamental not only in the choice of a product but also in the continuity of its use. This means that it is not enough for a product to be safe, effective and pleasant (in the sense of absence of discomfort), it must also provide an interesting experience and appropriate to the context in which it is used.

I remember the key note presented by Prof. Dr. Soraia Raupp Musse no WVC ' 2008 in which she cited the example of one of the first sessions of the film "The Polar Express" presented to an audience of children. According to the teacher, the way the characters ' eyes moved in a certain scene (I don't remember which one specifically) was so distinct from the natural that many of the young children simply cried in fear. This example is somewhat exaggerated here, but it serves to illustrate the point I want to get to: the way the interaction occurs is important for the human part of this interaction, because it is natural that we seek to humanize the other side (that is, the machine).

There are numerous works being carried out to build humanoid computational agents with the aim of making interaction more empathetic by mimicking facial and body expressions, and also vocal expressions such as" hum hum "denoting" I'm understanding you "(examples 1, 2, 3, 4, e especially 5 e 6). I believe that all this effort means that there is a recognition of the importance of machine humanization in this human-computer interaction.

Concluding...

Finally coming to the subject of the question about whether or not to use excuses in a message, Everything leads to the belief that this use is not only acceptable (at least in our cultural context - and probably also for the Japanese! :)) how can it be even required under certain conditions. In any case, it is not simply a matter of apologizing for a flaw, but of softening the way information is presented or of making the interaction more empathetic and natural to the human user. And I believe that this applies to any form of interaction, whether it is just textual or not.

One scenario where the use of "Sorry" seems valid under the judgment of the above arguments is in the case where the condition of the program stops or prevents the use of the product (or significant portion of the product) by the user. An example of this scenario is when a user turns on their PlayStation to watch a movie on NetFlix, but the system reports that it is under maintenance. It seems socially appropriate to apologize in this case, mainly because of the impact on the experience ("pull, I really wanted to watch this movie right now...") is definitely great, and perhaps this impact can be softened by an indication of humility and subjugation in the interaction that somehow demonstrates the creator's concern about the malaise caused by the lack of the product.

Maybe excuses really aren't needed when reporting that the user doesn't have access to a particular feature, but I'm afraid it still depends on the context of usage. To indicate to a user of an enterprise system (that is, a system that he is obliged to use for work reasons) that he does not have access to a particular resource, the lack of excuses seem to be irrelevant because probably the invalid access attempt was an honest misconception on the human part and does not necessarily alter your experience. However, in the indication of impossibility of access to a resource in an entertainment or personal system (that is, something that the user uses because he wants, and that he does it for fun or for some personal benefit) the use of excuses may be appropriate. Indeed, in that case it may even be appropriate include additional interactions such as " would you like to have access to this feature?".

EDIT:

I found this thread in User Experience which deals with the same subject. The accepted answer (and also with more votes) agrees that the use of "excuses" is appropriate and often necessary. Among the various arguments (I advise reading the question and its answers), there are two based on citations of scientific studies whose results support a strategy courteous to apologize.

The first quote is to the Article "The Effect of Apologetic Error Messages and Mood States on Computer Users ' Self-appraisal of Performance". The passage that seems relevant to me is this (in free translation):

[...] When users encountered problems, the system provided certain error messages representing a courtesy strategy positive (for example, a joke), a negative (for example, a simple sorry) and a mechanical error message (e.g. page is temporarily unavailable). The results of the study demonstrate that users who deal with social events and expressions courtesy prefer significantly more receive messages with excuses than mechanical messages or with jokes; they also prefer significantly more receive such messages than other options less courteous.

The second quote is taken from the article "Computer Apology: the Effect of the Apologetic Feedback on Users in Computerized Environment". Again, what seems relevant in free translation:

[...] this study shows that almost all participants did not consider the answers ( feedbacks ) with excuses as something strange, being that 95% of them considered such responses delicate and a consideration to your well-being. In this respect, it seems that the participants think so interesting to perceive a behavior respectful (like an apology) when they find a mistake caused by the inability of the computer as they would think if they found a problem in interaction with a human. These study results they indicate that the representation of the affective state of a person in the project interface is very important in human-computer interaction because people are more understanding when seeing emotional aspects in the interface such as sensitivity, respect and sense of humanity. Thus, these results may be evidence to support that the use of expressions with excuses on computers can foster the idea of a really user-centered design.

It should be noted that not necessarily excuses are more appropriate than humor. In the scientific study of the first citation the orientation of users was previously evaluated and it is expected that people living in more courteous social contexts (perhaps, by example, hotel attendants) prefer similar behaviors in the systems they interact with. In any case, it is noted in the two researches that the crucial issue is the humanization with which users treat the system, which must be included in the design of the interaction in one way or another.