Affective-CARA: A Knowledge Graph Driven Framework for Culturally Adaptive Emotional Intelligence in HCI

Culturally adaptive emotional responses remain a critical challenge in affective computing. This paper introduces Affective-CARA, an agentic framework designed to enhance user-agent interactions by integrating a Cultural Emotion Knowledge Graph (derived from StereoKG) with Valence, Arousal, and Dominance annotations, culture-specific data, and cross-cultural checks to minimize bias. A Gradient-Based Reward Policy Optimization mechanism further refines responses according to cultural alignment, affective appropriateness, and iterative user feedback. A Cultural-Aware Response Mediator coordinates knowledge retrieval, reinforcement learning updates, and historical data fusion. By merging real-time user input with past emotional states and cultural insights, Affective-CARA delivers narratives that are deeply personalized and sensitive to diverse cultural norms. Evaluations on AffectNet, SEMAINE DB, and MERD confirm that the framework consistently outperforms baseline models in sentiment alignment, cultural adaptation, and narrative quality. Affective-CARA achieved a Cultural Semantic Density of 9.32 out of 10 and lowered cultural representation bias by 61% (KL-Divergence: 0.28), demonstrating robust performance in generating ethical, adaptive responses. These findings suggest the potential for more inclusive and empathetic interactions, making Affective-CARA an avenue for fostering culturally grounded user experiences across domains such as cross-cultural communication, mental health support, and education.