Mind Perception of Robots Varies With Their Economic Versus Social Function.

ABSTRACT: While robots were traditionally built to achieve economic efficiency and financial profits, their roles are likely to change in the future with the aim to provide social support and companionship. In this research, we examined whether the robot's proposed function (social vs. economic) impacts judgments of mind and moral treatment. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrated that robots with social function were perceived to possess greater ability for emotional experience, but not cognition, compared to those with economic function and whose function was not mentioned explicitly. Study 2 replicated this finding and further showed that low economic value reduced ascriptions of cognitive capacity, whereas high social value resulted in increased emotion perception. In Study 3, robots with high social val

SUBMITTER: Wang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6058296 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature