Trade-offs in Social-Norm Framings for Health Chatbots: Balancing Trust and Preference

Arpita Wadhwa; Aditya Vashistha; Mohit Jain

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arXiv · 2509.15575

Trade-offs in Social-Norm Framings for Health Chatbots: Balancing Trust and Preference

Arpita Wadhwa·Aditya Vashistha·Mohit Jain

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Abstract

AI-driven chatbots are increasingly being used to support community health workers (CHWs) in developing regions. Yet little is known about how cultural frameworks in chatbot design shape trust in collectivist contexts where decisions are rarely made in isolation. This paper examines how CHWs in rural India responded to chatbot-interfaces that delivered identical health content but varied in one specific cultural lever: social norms. Through a mixed-methods study with 61 ASHAs who compared four normative framings: neutral, descriptive, narrative identity, and injunctive authority, we (1) analyze how framings influence preferences and trust and (2) compare effects in low- and high-ambiguity scenarios. The results show that narrative framings were most preferred but encouraged overreliance, while authority framings were least preferred yet supported calibrated trust. We conclude with design recommendations for dynamic framing strategies that adapt to context and argue for calibrated trust--following correct advice and resisting incorrect advice--as a critical evaluation metric for safe, culturally-grounded AI.

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Arpita Wadhwa, Aditya Vashistha, Mohit Jain. 2026-08-19. Trade-offs in Social-Norm Framings for Health Chatbots: Balancing Trust and Preference. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15575

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