Activating elicited agent knowledge: How robot and user features shape the perception of social robots

Friederike Eyssel*, Dieta Kuchenbrandt, Frank Hegel, Laura De Ruiter

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

A recent theoretical framework on anthropomorphism emphasizes the role of elicited agent knowledge in anthropomorphic inferences about nonhuman entities. According to the Three-Factor Model of psychological Anthropomorphism, people use anthropocentric knowledge structures when judging unfamiliar objects (e.g., robots). In the present research, our goal was to manipulate the accessibility of such elicited agent knowledge by varying features of a robot's voice: Specifically, we examined effects of vocal cues that reflected both gender of robot (i.e., a male vs. female voice) and voice type (i.e., a human-like vs. robot-like voice). This was done to test the impact of these vocal features on anthropomorphic inferences about the robot and on human-robot interaction (HRI) acceptance. Our results demonstrate that a robot's vocal cues clearly influence subsequent judgments of the robot and particularly so, when participant gender taken into account. Implications of our research for robotics will be discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2012 IEEE RO-MAN
Subtitle of host publicationThe 21st IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication
Pages851-857
Number of pages7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Event2012 21st IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2012 - Paris, France
Duration: 9 Sept 201213 Sept 2012

Conference

Conference2012 21st IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2012
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityParis
Period9/09/1213/09/12

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