The Influence of Culture on Attitudes Towards Humanoid and Animal‐like Robots: An Integrative Review

Abstract

Purpose:The aim of the present review is to explore the influence of culture on attitudes towards humanoid and animal-like robots. Design: An integrative review of current evidence. Methods: Medline, CINAHL, PsycInfo, PubMed, and Google Scholar were searched from 2000 to 2017. A total of 22 articles met the inclusion criteria and were retrieved and analyzed. Findings: Culture influences attitudes and preferences towards robots, but due to the limitations of the reviewed studies, concrete conclusions cannot be made. More consistent evidence was found with regard to the influence of culture on nonverbal behaviors and communication styles, with people being more accepting of a robot that behaved more closely to their own culture. Conclusions: The research field of human-robot interaction provides the current evidence on the influence that culture has on attitudes towards humanoid and animal-like robots, but more research that is guided by strong theoretical frameworks is needed. Clinical Relevance: With the increased use of humanoid robots in the healthcare system, it is imperative that nurses and other healthcare professionals explore and understand the different factors that can affect the use of robots with patients.

Global policies on assistive robots for care of the elderly: A scoping review

“…All five of the studies used questionnaires, three used solely questionnaires, [5,6,10] one used focus groups and question-naires, [11] and one used individual user tests and questionnaires. [4] Out of the 23 publications included in this review, there were five secondary studies of differing types, including two literature reviews, [12,13] one integrative review, [14] one rapid evidence review, [15] and one systematic review. [16] The ten primary and secondary studies outlined in Appendix 1 were conducted in many different countries, indicating an interest in robots for care of the elderly that spans a large part of the globe.…”

“…In contrast, an infographic by the European Commission [29] reported that while the majority of EU and Danish citizens had positive views of robots and thought they could be useful in different areas of healthcare, the majority thought they should not be used for care of the elderly, children or the disabled. The last study conducted by Papadopoulos & Koulouglioti [14] looked at cultural backgrounds related to attitudes towards robots but could not conclude with certainty which specific countries feel more positively or negatively towards robots due to limitations within studies included in their review.…”

“…Interestingly, cultural differences affecting attitudes towards robots were found multiple times in different studies and reports. [6,14,18,25] Consensus from the various sources was that Western cultures seem to inherently link robots to fear, as seen in Hollywood's dramatization of scary robots such as the Terminator or Robocop, [25] or even from Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk and their warnings of artificial intelligence's ability to end the human race if managed incorrectly. Eastern cultures appear to be more positive towards robots, potentially due to factors such as having a Shintoism point of view originating out of Japan, which believes that everything has a soul, including robots.…”

Impacts of a Care Robotics Project on Finnish Home Care Workers’ Attitudes towards Robots

“…The introduction and adoption of a home healthcare robot can be studied from different points of view [ 15 ]. The theoretical starting points of the present study are based on discussions about attitudes towards robots [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Consistent with previous studies, this study assumes that workers’ attitudes play a key role in the success of robot deployment.…”

“…The first dimension relates to attitudes towards situations of interaction with robots (NARS1), the second to attitudes towards the social influence of robots (NARS2), and the third dimension to attitudes towards the emotions in interaction with robots (NARS3). Studies have revealed that there are cultural differences in attitudes towards robots [ 24 ]. For example, the Japanese prefer more human-like robots than Europeans [ 22 ].…”