The Influence of Robot Verbal Support on Human Team Members: Encouraging Outgroup Contributions and Suppressing Ingroup Supportive Behavior

Abstract

As teams of people increasingly incorporate robot members, it is essential to consider how a robot's actions may influence the team's social dynamics and interactions. In this work, we investigated the effects of verbal support from a robot (e.g., “good idea Salim,” “yeah”) on human team members' interactions related to psychological safety and inclusion. We conducted a between-subjects experiment (N = 39 groups, 117 participants) where the robot team member either (A) gave verbal support or (B) did not give verbal support to the human team members of a human-robot team comprised of 2 human ingroup members, 1 human outgroup member, and 1 robot. We found that targeted support from the robot (e.g., “good idea George”) had a positive effect on outgroup members, who increased their verbal participation after receiving targeted support from the robot. When comparing groups that did and did not have verbal support from the robot, we found that outgroup members received fewer verbal backchannels from ingroup members if their group had robot verbal support. These results suggest that verbal support from a robot may have some direct benefits to outgroup members but may also reduce the obligation ingroup members feel to support the verbal contributions of outgroup members.

Robot-Mediated Inclusive Processes in Groups of Children: From Gaze Aversion to Mutual Smiling Gaze

“…Furthermore, building on Strohkorb Sebo et al (2020) and Fraune et al (2019) , we argue that evaluating a robot’s effects on group dynamics also requires studying interactions in which participants are concerned with the consequences of this isolated interaction on their personal relationship on a long term, instead of strictly experimental data where no relationship is at stake for them. In our data, that the children are in the same school and will meet again is integral to their hesitations and attempts to make positive contact, which could have been completely different were they not meant to see each other again.…”

“…In their study, Sebo et al (2020) attempted similar inclusion effects in groups of three participants comprising an outgroup member, playing a game. However, the robot provided verbal support, and while this was found effective in encouraging the outgroup member to participate, it also discharged ingroup members from making this sort of inclusive efforts.…”

“…Or, it is largely because the robot’s conduct is unexpected and subject to interpretation (unlike, say, a human-like, verbal utterance) that the children react vividly and come to share their emotional reaction [ The Robot’s Conduct Elicits Emotional Reactions: Looking and Smiling to the Other as Sharing Emotions ( Towards Bonding )]. In this way, we build on Sebo et al (2020) and others’ endeavour to delineate the sort of robots and robot conduct likely to not only foster inclusion but foster inclusive behaviours in groups.…”

“…Similarly, Shimada et al (2012) show how a robot can increase motivation through relationship-building and encourage behaviours in a Lego-building task. Particularly relevant to our study, Strohkorb Sebo et al (2020) also aim to foster inclusion in groups, with a robot providing verbal encouragement for outgroup members to participate more, with different strategies tested in the study. While the robot’s verbal encouragements prove effective, another, less positive finding is that this robot behaviour also suppressed ingroup members’ efforts to include the outgroup member, suggesting detrimental effects on human sociality itself.…”

Human-Robot Interaction in Groups: Methodological and Research Practices

“…For instance, in the context of a competitive game, participants have been shown to prefer and show fewer signs of aggression towards ingroup robots than outgroup humans [40,41]. Verbal support given by a robot to outgroup members seems to positively impact their participation in a joint task, but also reduces the verbal support given by other ingroup members [42]. In mixed group HRI, it has also been observed that the role and goalorientation played by the robot can influence interaction among humans and robots, and also among humans who are members of an in-group or out-group [43] (see Figure 4 for an example of research on this topic).…”