Investigating the nature of children's altruism using a social humanoid robot

Martin, Dorothea Ulrike; Perry, Conrad; MacIntyre, Madeline Isabel; Varcoe, Luisa; Pedell, Sonja; Kaufman, Jordy

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.025

Cited by 32 publications

(39 citation statements)

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“…In contrast, children who were presented with the same situation in which the robot did not indicate a need for help (i.e., when it dropped the stick seemingly intentionally and did not reach for it) were far less likely and slower to help. These results suggest that young children attribute goals to a humanoid robot and are motivated to help it (Martin et al, 2020). These findings are consistent with previous results on children's instrumental helping behavior (e.g., Tomasello, 2006, 2007), indicating that young children's helping behavior extends almost indiscriminately across recipients with varying characteristics (e.g., Hay, 1994;Warneken and Tomasello, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…They help same-aged peers (Hepach et al, 2017), familiar (e.g., Tomasello, 2006, 2007;Allen et al, 2018) and unfamiliar adults (Rheingold, 1982;Hepach et al, 2016), and even recipients who had behaved antisocially (Dahl et al, 2013;Sebastián-Enesco et al, 2013;c.f., Vaish et al, 2010). Furthermore, a recent study showed that young children's helping behavior is not confined to human recipients, but extends to a robot in need (Martin et al, 2020; for a study with older children, see Beran et al, 2011). In particular, using a procedure based on research by Tomasello (2006, 2007), Martin et al (2020) presented 3-year-old children with a humanoid robot that played a xylophone and subsequently dropped the xylophone stick out of its reach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, a recent study showed that young children's helping behavior is not confined to human recipients, but extends to a robot in need (Martin et al, 2020; for a study with older children, see Beran et al, 2011). In particular, using a procedure based on research by Tomasello (2006, 2007), Martin et al (2020) presented 3-year-old children with a humanoid robot that played a xylophone and subsequently dropped the xylophone stick out of its reach. Children were likely to help the robot by returning the stick when it appeared to need help (i.e., when it dropped the stick seemingly accidentally and reached for it).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the lack of previous research investigating young children's instrumental helping behavior toward robots, the study by Martin et al (2020) was designed to allow for comparisons with previous studies using human recipients (e.g., Tomasello, 2006, 2007). Thus, the pre-programmed robot followed a pre-determined behavioral and verbal script.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One particularly important feature is the robots' apparent autonomy -a feature that was incorporated and unvaried in the study by Martin et al (2020). The importance of autonomy for adults' prosocial behavior was highlighted in a study by [Srinivasan and Takayama (2016), Experiment 2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Young Children’s Indiscriminate Helping Behavior Toward a Humanoid Robot

et al. 2020

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Young children help others in a range of situations, relatively indiscriminate of the characteristics of those they help. Recent results have suggested that young children's helping behavior extends even to humanoid robots. However, it has been unclear how characteristics of robots would influence children's helping behavior. Considering previous findings suggesting that certain robot features influence adults' perception of and their behavior toward robots, the question arises of whether young children's behavior and perception would follow the same principles. The current study investigated whether two key characteristics of a humanoid robot (animate autonomy and friendly expressiveness) would affect children's instrumental helping behavior and their perception of the robot as an animate being. Eighty-two 3-year-old children participated in one of four experimental conditions manipulating a robot's ostensible animate autonomy (high/low) and friendly expressiveness (friendly/neutral). Helping was assessed in an out-of-reach task and animacy ratings were assessed in a post-test interview. Results suggested that both children's helping behavior, as well as their perception of the robot as animate, were unaffected by the robot's characteristics. The findings indicate that young children's helping behavior extends largely indiscriminately across two important characteristics. These results increase our understanding of the development of children's altruistic behavior and animate-inanimate distinctions. Our findings also raise important ethical questions for the field of child-robot interaction.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Young Children’s Indiscriminate Helping Behavior Toward a Humanoid Robot

et al. 2020

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The effects of smartphone assistants' anthropomorphism on consumers' psychological ownership and perceived competence of smartphone assistants

Cheng

2022

J of Consumer Behaviour

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Few studies on the effects of smartphone assistants' anthropomorphism on consumer behavior have been conducted. This study explored the effects of anthropomorphism on consumers' psychological ownership of smartphone assistants and perceptions of their competence. Moreover, it investigated arousal during smartphone assistant use and examined how relationship norms governing the consumer–smartphone assistant relationship moderate the effects of anthropomorphism on psychological ownership. In study 1, which had a one‐factorial design (high vs. low anthropomorphism), a highly anthropomorphic smartphone assistant was perceived to be more competent. In study 2, which followed the same experimental procedure under a 2 × 2 full factorial design, the anthropomorphism–relationship norms interaction moderated psychological ownership. Psychological ownership fully mediated the effect of anthropomorphism on perceived competence. Study 3 employed a 2 (anthropomorphism: high vs. low) × 2 (arousal: high vs. low) × 2 (relationship norms: exchange vs. communal) full factorial design. In the high arousal condition, anthropomorphism and relationship norms exerted no significant effect on psychological ownership. A conditional indirect effect from anthropomorphism to perceived competence through psychological ownership was only significant under low arousal and adherence to communal relationship norms. In summary, the degree of anthropomorphism influenced perceived competence through psychological ownership. Therefore, companies should incorporate anthropomorphic cues into smartphone assistant design, thereby promoting their personification by consumers and benefiting perceptions of their competence.

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