Effects of robot facial characteristics and gender in persuasive human-robot interaction

The growing interest in social robotics makes it relevant to examine the potential of robots as persuasive agents and, more specifically, to examine how robot characteristics influence the way people experience such interactions and comply with the persuasive attempts by robots. The purpose of this research is to identify how the (ostensible) gender and the facial characteristics of a robot influence the extent to which people trust it and the psychological reactance they experience from its persuasive attempts. This paper reports a laboratory study where SociBot™, a robot capable of displaying different faces and dynamic social cues, delivered persuasive messages to participants while playing a game. In-game choice behavior was logged, and trust and reactance toward the advisor were measured using questionnaires. Results show that a robotic advisor with upturned eyebrows and lips (features that people tend to trust more in humans) is more persuasive, evokes more trust, and less psychological reactance compared to one displaying eyebrows pointing down and lips curled downwards at the edges (facial characteristics typically not trusted in humans). Gender of the robot did not affect trust, but participants experienced higher psychological reactance when interacting with a robot of the opposite gender. Remarkably, mediation analysis showed that liking of the robot fully mediates the influence of facial characteristics on trusting beliefs and psychological reactance. Also, psychological reactance was a strong and reliable predictor of trusting beliefs but not of trusting behavior. These results suggest robots that are intended to influence human behavior should be designed to have facial characteristics we trust in humans and could be personalized to have the same gender as the user. Furthermore, personalization and adaptation techniques designed to make people like the robot more may help ensure they will also trust the robot.</p

Effects of Robot Facial Characteristics and Gender in Persuasive Human-Robot Interaction

The growing interest in social robotics makes it relevant to examine the potential of robots as persuasive agents and, more specifically, to examine how robot characteristics influence the way people experience such interactions and comply with the persuasive attempts by robots. The purpose of this research is to identify how the (ostensible) gender and the facial characteristics of a robot influence the extent to which people trust it and the psychological reactance they experience from its persuasive attempts. This paper reports a laboratory study where SociBot™, a robot capable of displaying different faces and dynamic social cues, delivered persuasive messages to participants while playing a game. In-game choice behavior was logged, and trust and reactance toward the advisor were measured using questionnaires. Results show that a robotic advisor with upturned eyebrows and lips (features that people tend to trust more in humans) is more persuasive, evokes more trust, and less psychological reactance compared to one displaying eyebrows pointing down and lips curled downwards at the edges (facial characteristics typically not trusted in humans). Gender of the robot did not affect trust, but participants experienced higher psychological reactance when interacting with a robot of the opposite gender. Remarkably, mediation analysis showed that liking of the robot fully mediates the influence of facial characteristics on trusting beliefs and psychological reactance. Also, psychological reactance was a strong and reliable predictor of trusting beliefs but not of trusting behavior. These results suggest robots that are intended to influence human behavior should be designed to have facial characteristics we trust in humans and could be personalized to have the same gender as the user. Furthermore, personalization and adaptation techniques designed to make people like the robot more may help ensure they will also trust the robot

Persuasiveness of social robot ‘Nao’ based on gaze and proximity

Social Robots have widely infiltrated the retail and public space. Mainly, social robots are being utilized across a wide range of scenarios to influence decision making, disseminate information, and act as a signage mechanism, under the umbrella of Persuasive Robots or Persuasive Technology. While there have been several studies in the afore-mentioned area, the effect of non-verbal behaviour on persuasive abilities is generally unexplored. Therefore, in this research, we report whether two key non-verbal attributes, namely proximity and gaze, can elicit persuasively, compliance, and specific personality appeals. For this, we conducted a 2 (eye gaze) x 2 (proximity) between-subjects experiment where participants viewed a video-based scenario of the Nao robot. Our initial results did not reveal any significant results based on the non-verbal attributes. However, perceived compliance and persuasion were significantly correlated with knowledge, responsiveness, and trustworthiness. In conclusion, we discuss how the design of a robot could make it more convincing as extensive marketing and brand promotion companies could use robots to enhance their advertisement operations

The interaction between voice and appearance in the embodiment of a robot tutor

Robot embodiment is, by its very nature, holistic and understanding how various aspects contribute to the user perception of the robot is non-trivial. A study is presented here that investigates whether there is an interaction effect between voice and other aspects of embodiment, such as movement and appearance, in a pedagogical setting. An on-line study was distributed to children aged 11–17 that uses a modified Godspeed questionnaire. We show an interaction effect between the robot embodiment and voice in terms of perceived lifelikeness of the robot. Politeness is a key strategy used in learning and teaching, and here an effect is also observed for perceived politeness. Interestingly, participants’ overall preference was for embodiment combinations that are deemed polite and more like a teacher, but are not necessarily the most lifelike. From these findings, we are able to inform the design of robotic tutors going forward

The influence of social cues in persuasive social robots on psychological reactance and compliance

People can react negatively to persuasive attempts experiencing reactance, which gives rise to negative feelings and thoughts and may reduce compliance. This research examines social responses towards persuasive social agents. We present a laboratory experiment which assessed reactance and compliance to persuasive attempts delivered by an artificial (non-robotic) social agent, a social robot with minimal social cues (human-like face with speech output and blinking eyes), and a social robot with enhanced social cues (human-like face with head movement, facial expression, affective intonation of speech output). Our results suggest that a social robot presenting more social cues will cause higher reactance and this effect is stronger when the user feels involved in the task at hand