The (Ir)relevance of Robot Cuteness

Caudwell, Catherine Barbara; Lacey, Cherie; Sandoval, Eduardo Benítez

doi:10.1145/3369457.3369463

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…We also propose that our findings might be replicable and our managerial implications applicable to the appearance of human-like chatbots in online services transactions. Indeed, previous studies have shown the babyface overgeneralization effect in robots (Caudwell et al, 2019;Lv et al, 2021). For example, baby-faced chatbots may attract more interactions for low-involvement online services, while mature-faced chatbots could entice more interactions for high-involvement online services.…”

Section: Ejm 577mentioning

confidence: 97%

Do salespeople’s online profile pictures predict the number of online reviews? Effect of a babyface

Yim

Price

Agnihotri

et al. 2022

EJM

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Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of a salesperson’s babyface in his/her profile picture on the number of online reviews the salesperson receives. In addition to testing the direct relationship, this study explores the moderating roles of salesperson gender and consumer involvement. Design/methodology/approach Responding to the call for field-based consumer research, the authors test their theory using an experimental design and a field study. Study 1 employs an experimental design in high and low involvement service settings to test the effect of a babyface on consumers’ intention to write online reviews. Study 2 uses field data, utilising real estate salespeople’s online profile pictures to test the effect of salespeople’s babyface on the number of online reviews they receive. It does so by using an artificial intelligence facial recognition application interface. Findings A salesperson’s babyface results in fewer online reviews in situations in which consumers are highly involved in the purchase process. By contrast, a salesperson’s babyface engenders more online reviews when consumers purchase low involvement services. The adverse effect of a babyface on the number of online reviews, however, attenuates when a salesperson is female. Research limitations/implications Limited information about salespeople, a skewed number of online reviews and blurry online profile pictures from a real-world data set constitute the study’s limitations. Practical implications When consumers are highly involved in the purchase process, salespeople should appear mature in their online profile photos to engender more online reviews. However, salespeople providing low involvement services should opt for online profile pictures reflecting babyish facial features to generate more online reviews. Originality/value Research has shown that salespeople’s physical appearance plays an important role in consumers’ perceptions of salespeople and their performance. Although abundant research and practice have shown the importance of online reviews, less is known about how online profile pictures affect online reviews. Thus, building on well-studied cases of an overgeneralization effect, this work examines the extent to which salespeople’s babyface features in their online profile picture affects the number of online reviews received in a real-world setting.

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Section: Ejm 577mentioning

confidence: 97%

Do salespeople’s online profile pictures predict the number of online reviews? Effect of a babyface

Yim

Price

Agnihotri

et al. 2022

EJM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nonetheless, this effect also incapacitates robots in some way as it has the ability to call up a range of negative effects. 53 Lukin and his colleagues explored whether cuteness affects moral judgments on the robot's actions through two studies. Study 1 found that in the situation of forced medication, there is a difference in how human and robot nurses' actions are judged.…”

Section: Bse and The Trustworthiness Of Social Robotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on the influence of the baby schema effect on the cuteness and trustworthiness of social robot faces

Chen

Jia

2023

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems

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Exploring people’s attitudes toward the appearance design of social robots in a low-cost and efficient way, and enhancing the experience of human–robot interaction have always been topics of concern for robot developers and interaction designers. This study aimed to explore the influence of the baby schema effect on users’ perceptions of cuteness and trustworthiness pertinent to social robot faces through two experiments. Experiment 1 used 100 uniformly processed pictures of robot faces in the real world to help explore the linear relationship among the degree of baby face, cuteness, and trustworthiness, and received a total of 98 valid questionnaires via the Internet. Experiment 2 was a 5 × 3 within-subjects factorial design. The research variables were robot type (i.e. MAKI, RoboThespian, Flobi, Pepper, and iCat) and baby schema (low schema, uncontrolled, and high schema); their impact on users’ perceptions of cuteness and trustworthiness was investigated. A total of 175 valid questionnaires were collected via the Internet. The generated results are as follows: (1) The degree of baby face and perceived emotion of social robot faces had a positive impact on trustworthiness for most real-world robots. (2) This study obtained the correlation formula of baby face, cuteness, and trustworthiness from a quantitative point of view, thus providing a reference for research on the related credibility of communication robots. (3) In general, baby schema effect also existed in the cuteness evaluation of most real-world robots. Faces with high schema were considered cuter and more trustworthy than uncontrolled or low schema faces. (4) Robot type and baby schema had a significant interaction with cuteness and trustworthiness. (5) However, for certain types of robots, baby schema effect may also have a counter-effect, that is, an overly high baby schema may reduce users’ perceptions of the cuteness and trustworthiness of social robots.

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“…Examples of SARs exist in the para-medical field [4,5] and for domestic use, taking care of the elderly or people with disabilities [6,7], or helping with children [8,9]. Since SAR types have functional differences, we expect the user-robot interaction to vary by use context, functionality, user characteristics, and environmental conditions [10,11]. Yet, our market research revealed that SAR manufacturers often design and deploy the same robotic embodiment for diverse contexts (see Sect.…”

Section: Socially Assistive Robotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing Robots with the Context in Mind- One Design Does Not Fit All

Liberman-Pincu

Grondelle²,

Oron-Gilad³

2023

Human-Friendly Robotics 2022

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Robots' visual qualities (VQs) impact people's perception of their characteristics and affect users' behaviors and attitudes toward the robot. Recent years point toward a growing need for Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) in various contexts and functions, interacting with various users. Since SAR types have functional differences, the user experience must vary by the context of use, functionality, user characteristics, and environmental conditions. Still, SAR manufacturers often design and deploy the same robotic embodiment for diverse contexts. We argue that the visual design of SARs requires a more scientific approach considering their multiple evolving roles in future society. In this work, we define four contextual layers: the domain in which the SAR exists, the physical environment, its intended users, and the robot's role. Via an online questionnaire, we collected potential users' expectations regarding the desired characteristics and visual qualities of four different SARs: a service robot for an assisted living/retirement residence facility, a medical assistant robot for a hospital environment, a COVID-19 officer robot, and a personal assistant robot for domestic use. Results indicated that users' expectations differ regarding the robot's desired characteristics and the anticipated visual qualities for each context and use case.

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The (Ir)relevance of Robot Cuteness

Cited by 17 publications

References 28 publications

Do salespeople’s online profile pictures predict the number of online reviews? Effect of a babyface

Do salespeople’s online profile pictures predict the number of online reviews? Effect of a babyface

Research on the influence of the baby schema effect on the cuteness and trustworthiness of social robot faces

Designing Robots with the Context in Mind- One Design Does Not Fit All

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