Effects of anticipated human-robot interaction and predictability of robot behavior on perceptions of anthropomorphism

Abstract

Recent research has shown that anthropomorphism represents a means to facilitate HRI. Under which conditions do people anthropomorphize robots and other nonhuman agents? This research question was investigated in an experiment that manipulated participants' anticipation of a prospective humanrobot interaction (HRI) with a robot whose behavior was characterized by either low or high predictability. We examined effects of these factors on perceptions of anthropomorphism and acceptance of the robot. Innovatively, the present research demonstrates that anticipation of HRI with an unpredictable agent increased anthropomorphic inferences and acceptance of the robot. Implications for future research on psychological determinants of anthropomorphism are discussed.

Loneliness makes the heart grow fonder (of robots) — On the effects of loneliness on psychological anthropomorphism

“…However, little experimental research has investigated the effects of loneliness on wide range of measures of psychological anthropomorphism. [e.g., [6][7][8].…”

“…Human essence attribution to the robot was measured using 20 personality traits that have been shown to be valid measures of psychological anthropomorphism [7,8]. These human nature and human uniqueness traits [6][7][8].…”

“…These human nature and human uniqueness traits [6][7][8]. were combined to form a reliable index of human essence (human nature: curious, friendly, fun-loving, sociable, trusting, aggressive, distractible, impatient, jealous; human uniqueness: polite, broadminded, humble, organized, thorough, cold, conservative, hard-hearted, rude, and shallow; α = .86).…”

Familiar and Strange: Gender, Sex, and Love in the Uncanny Valley

“…Indeed, researchers have long known that the ability to predict patterns of behavior in social interactions may be critical to smooth social encounters [18,19]. This idea has been extended to interactions between humans and robots, and some research shows that when robots appear human, they set in motion a series of predictions regarding how they will behave [20]. However, a robot may violate these expectations with even minor behavioral inconsistencies or flaws in the realism of its movements or speech, thereby sounding a subconscious alarm in the brain of the human observer that, although the robot appears human, it is only pretending [10].…”

Manipulating anthropomorphic inferences about NAO: The role of situational and dispositional aspects of effectance motivation

“…Thus far, only few studies have investigated the role of effectance motivation on judgments and perceptions of anthropomorphism in non-human entities [2], [4]- [6]. Even fewer have studied effectance motivation in the context of technical gadgets or robots [6, see Experiments 2 and 4 ].…”