Do a robot’s social skills and its objection discourage interactants from switching the robot off?

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 13; no. 7; p. e0201581
• Main Authors: Horstmann, Aike C., Bock, Nikolai, Linhuber, Eva, Szczuka, Jessica M., Straßmann, Carolin, Krämer, Nicole C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 31.07.2018; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Analysis; Artificial Intelligence; Attitude; Attitudes; Behavior; Between-subjects design; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomimetic Materials; Communication; Electrical Equipment and Supplies; Emotions - physiology; Engineering and Technology; Female; Human behavior; Human-machine systems; Humans; Influence; International conferences; Interpersonal Relations; Inventory; Male; Mimicry; Motivation; Object Attachment; People and Places; Perceptions; Personal relationships; Robotics; Robotics - instrumentation; Robots; Social aspects; Social behavior; Social interaction; Social psychology; Social Sciences; Social Skills; Switching; User-Computer Interface; Young Adult; United Kingdom > UK; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201581

Building on the notion that people respond to media as if they were real, switching off a robot which exhibits lifelike behavior implies an interesting situation. In an experimental lab study with a 2x2 between-subjects-design (N = 85), people were given the choice to switch off a robot with which they had just interacted. The style of the interaction was either social (mimicking human behavior) or functional (displaying machinelike behavior). Additionally, the robot either voiced an objection against being switched off or it remained silent. Results show that participants rather let the robot stay switched on when the robot objected. After the functional interaction, people evaluated the robot as less likeable, which in turn led to a reduced stress experience after the switching off situation. Furthermore, individuals hesitated longest when they had experienced a functional interaction in combination with an objecting robot. This unexpected result might be due to the fact that the impression people had formed based on the task-focused behavior of the robot conflicted with the emotional nature of the objection.