10 Socializing the Intelligent Tutor: Bringing Empathy to Computer Tutors* MARK R. LEPPER RUTH W. CHABA Y "In all things we learn only from those we love." -Goethe The computer, it has been said, is a once-in-several-centuries invention-a technology potentially capable of transforming the process of education (Brown, 1985; Kay, 1977; Papert, 1980; Simon, 1983; Suppes, 1966). In- deed, as the computer has begun to infiltrate primary as well as college classrooms, the array of educational uses to which it has been put is im- pressive (Kleiman, 1984; Lepper, 1985). It can serve, simultaneously, as a tool for facilitating the performance of a variety of mundane tasks (such as word processing, data analysis, or information retrieval), a device for creating and presenting complex simulations and rich exploratory-learning environments, and a means of providing practice of skills and testing of knowledge in many content areas. Computers as Tutors Perhaps the most prevalent and persistent metaphor concerning the use of computers in education, however, remains the idea of computers as tutors-devices for providing students with explicit instruction, presenting them with appropriate problems, and offering them informed guidance and feedback contingent on their performance on these problems. At first such * Preparation of this paper was supported, in part, by research grant HD-MH- 09814 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and by the Sloan Foundation Grant to Stanford University's Cognitive Science Program. Ruth Chabay is now at Carnegie-Mellon University. H. Mandl et al. (eds.), Learning Issues for Intelligent Tutoring Systems © Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1988