Perceived Intelligence and Perceived Anthropomorphism of Personal Intelligent Agents: Scale Development and Validation

Personal intelligent agents are systems that are autonomous, aware of their environment, continuously learning and adapting to change, able to interact using natural language and capable of completing tasks within a favorable timeframe in a proactive manner. Examples include Siri and Alexa. Several unique characteristics distinguish these agents from other traditional information systems. Of particular interest in this work are characteristics of intelligence and anthropomorphism. This paper describes the process of developing two new measures with satisfactory psychometric properties that can be adapted by researchers to assess the users’ perceptions of intelligence and anthropomorphism of PIAs. The measures are validated using data collected from 232 experienced PIA users

A neurocognitive investigation of the impact of socializing with a robot on empathy for pain

To what extent can humans form social relationships with robots? In the present study, we combined functional neuroimaging with a robot socializing intervention to probe the flexibility of empathy, a core component of social relationships, towards robots. Twenty-six individuals underwent identical fMRI sessions before and after being issued a social robot to take home and interact with over the course of a week. While undergoing fMRI, participants observed videos of a human actor or a robot experiencing pain or pleasure in response to electrical stimulation. Repetition suppression of activity in the pain network, a collection of brain regions associated with empathy and emotional responding, was measured to test whether socializing with a social robot leads to greater overlap in neural mechanisms when observing human and robotic agents experiencing pain or pleasure. In contrast to our hypothesis, functional region-of-interest analyses revealed no change in neural overlap for agents after the socializing intervention. Similarly, no increase in activation when observing a robot experiencing pain emerged post-socializing. Whole-brain analysis showed that, before the socializing intervention, superior parietal and early visual regions are sensitive to novel agents, while after socializing, medial temporal regions show agent sensitivity. A region of the inferior parietal lobule was sensitive to novel emotions, but only during the pre-socializing scan session. Together, these findings suggest that a short socialization intervention with a social robot does not lead to discernible differences in empathy towards the robot, as measured by behavioural or brain responses. We discuss the extent to which long-term socialization with robots might shape social cognitive processes and ultimately our relationships with these machines. This article is part of the theme issue ‘From social brains to social robots: applying neurocognitive insights to human–robot interaction’

Anthropomorphisierung in der Mensch-Roboter Interaktionsforschung: theoretische Zugänge und soziologisches Anschlusspotential

Anthropomorphisierung bedeutet die Zuschreibung von menschlichen Eigenschaften hinsichtlich der Gestalt oder des Verhaltens auf nicht-menschliche Entitäten, wie bspw. Götter, Pflanzen, Tiere, Computer oder Roboter. In der Mensch-Roboter Interaktionsforschung ist das Phänomen von besonderer Relevanz, da Roboter aufgrund ihrer Verkörperung und Belebtheit, Anthropomorphisierungen in hohem Maße evozieren. Der Artikel widmet sich theoretischen Zugängen zum Phänomen, integriert diese und zeigt ihre soziologische Anschlussfähigkeit auf. En detail besprochen werden der intentional Stance von Dennett, die Drei-Faktoren-Theorie von Epley et al., ein dynamisches Anthropomorphismusmodell von Lemaignan et al. und ein Ansatz von Perssonet al, der Anthropomorphisierung als Mehrebenenphänomen fasst

Legal Systemology and the Geopolitics of Roman Law:A Response to Stuart Elden’s Critique of Carl Schmitt’s Spatial Ontology

This paper explores the production, destruction, and reproduction of the geopolitical spaces of Roman law in order to offer an analysis of Schmitt’s (selective) notion of Jus Publicum Europaeum and its relevance to the current “depoliticization” and “dejuridification” of the world. By adopting a historical and geopolitical approach that reaches the boundaries of legal systemology and political theology, the present contribution investigates the manipulative and instrumentalist use of the material object of Rome’s (universalist) competence, namely the “territory” as dominium of its political intervention, which was ultimately (and idealistically) aimed at avoiding the natural destiny of any living being: birth, maturity, and death. Attention is therefore paid to the Roman strategy of (ontological?) contamination of its mythical identity through the legal and sociopolitical administration and regulation of its geographical spaces in terms of (non-)cultural signification. Through the analysis of such concepts as “nomos,” “Großraum,” “Ortung,” and “Ordnung,” it is claimed that Schmitt voluntarily chose to identify the Jus Publicum Europaeum with the geopolitical order produced during the Age of Discovery and not with the “comprehensive” Roman spatial order. The reason for this choice may be identified in the distortive use of Rome’s social relations and political allegiances that lay at the core of its genealogical expansionism (and subsequent inevitable dissolution) since the conquest of Veius in 396 BC and the historical compromise between patrician nobility and plebeians in 367 BC

Exploring the Association between Paranormal Beliefs and Cognitive Deficits

This thesis investigates whether paranormal beliefs are associated with deficits of cognition (in accord with the so-called “cognitive deficits hypothesis”). A systematic review of four decades of research (71 studies, n = 20,993) on paranormal beliefs and cognitive functioning is presented, considering the quality of existing research and identifying areas for future work. It is concluded that study quality in this research area is generally good, although areas of methodological weakness exist including: the lack of preregistration, discussion of limitations, a-priori justification of sample size, and a reliance on undergraduate samples. Heterogeneity of study findings exists, with the most consistent findings emerging for positive associations between paranormal beliefs and both intuitive thinking and confirmatory bias, and a negative association with conditional reasoning ability and the perception of randomness. While most studies suggest a negative relationship between paranormal beliefs and cognitive functioning, the evidence is not convincing of an overall cognitive deficit. The first empirical chapter (Chapter 3) describes the psychometric assessment of the most widely used paranormal beliefs measure, and the subsequent development of a more up-to-date and reliable measure of paranormal beliefs in the general population (owing to issues surrounding the item content and statistical techniques used to develop existing measures). Two methods of scale development (the classical test theory method of factor analysis, and the modern test theory Rasch analysis) were compared, with the Rasch method providing the most prudent measure of paranormal beliefs in the general population. In particular, the Rasch method allowed for assessment of item difficulty, functionality of the rating scale, and differential item functioning. The final scale measures paranormal beliefs along a single dimension using 13 items and a 4-point Likert scale. Chapter 4 seeks to add to the small volume of research concerning paranormal beliefs and executive functions identified in the systematic literature review by examining whether paranormal beliefs are associated with executive difficulties. Specifically, the chapter focuses on cognitive flexibility, presenting a series of replication studies to determine the strength and direction of its association with paranormal beliefs. A negative relationship between paranormal beliefs and cognitive functioning was identified in some studies, however heterogeneity was high between studies and an overall weak effect suggestive of external mediating factors. The final empirical chapter (Chapter 5) explores the subjective importance of personal paranormal experiences for the development and maintenance of paranormal (dis)belief. Compared to sceptics, believers provided more detailed memory descriptions, which were classified into five distinct components representing their paranormal experiences: explaining experiences, intuitions, perceptual experiences, spiritual experiences, and explicit memories of experiences. The memory descriptions of sceptics were shorter and more homogeneous than those of believers and were classified into just two classes: justification of disbelief, and experiences with others. Believers overall emphasised individual experiences, while sceptics focused on shared experiences. Personal paranormal experiences were found to be important for both paranormal belief and disbelief. It is suggested that future research place greater focus on the personal experiences of sceptics, which have received little attention to date, using both qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand paranormal disbelief. While the work presented here identified some cognitive differences between paranormal believers and sceptics, little evidence points to an underlying cognitive deficit associated with paranormal beliefs. This suggests that the cognitive deficits hypothesis present within the literature is not an accurate reflection of the relationship between paranormal beliefs and cognition, prompting the need for a new theory and further investigation. Specifically, the work presented here suggests a new fluid-executive theory to test for a potential difference in fluid intelligence and higher order executive functioning that may influence believers’ and sceptics’ cognitive performance (particularly on tasks requiring novel or abstract problem-solving). The present work also advocates further research focused on quantitative and qualitative relationships between paranormal disbelief (scepticism) and cognitive functioning; a perspective that has not received adequate investigation in the literature to date

Dynamics of Human-Robot Interaction in Domestic Environments

Domestic service robots are nowadays widely available on the consumer market. As such, robots have begun entering people’s homes and daily lives. However, it seems that the dissemination of domestic robots has not happened as easily and widespread as it was anticipated in the first place. Little is known about the reasons why because long-term studies of ordinary people using real robots in their homes are rare. To better understand how people interact, use and accept domestic robots, studies of human-robot interaction require ecologically valid settings and the user and their needs have to come into the focus. In this dissertation, we propose to investigate the dynamics of human-robot interaction in domestic environments. We first explore the field by means of a 6-month ethnographic study of nine households. We provided each of the households with a Roomba vacuum cleaning robot. Our motivation is to understand long-term acceptance and to identify factors that can promote and hinder the integration of a domestic service robot in different types of households. We would like to find out how people’s perception of the robot, and the way they interact with it and use it, evolve over time. Furthermore, as social factors were highlighted in previous studies on technology adoption in homes, we shed light on to what extent people view Roomba and other types of domestic robots as a social entity and to what extent they anthropomorphize it. Findings of this research can be used to guide the design of user-oriented robots that have the potential to lastingly become a valuable part within the home ecology. Then, we pursue the idea of developing our own domestic robot prototype that could be used in a household with children. We imagine a playful robot that aims to motivate young children to tidy up their toys. In a first evaluation of the robot in 14 family homes, we study the effect of a proactive and reactive robot behavior on children’s interaction with the robot and their motivation to tidy up. A follow-up experiment explores the possibility to sustain children’s engagement by manipulating the robot’s behavior in such way that it appears unexpected. We further investigate how far this influences children’s perception of the robot in terms of anthropomorphism. Our findings emphasize the importance of research in ecologically valid settings in order to obtain a better understanding of human-robot interaction, advance further the design of user-oriented robots and foster the long-term acceptance of these devices