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A study on the influence of service robots' level of anthropomorphism on the willingness of users to follow their recommendations.

ABSTRACT: Service robots are increasingly deployed in various industries including tourism. In spite of extensive research on the user's experience in interaction with these robots, there are yet unanswered questions about the factors that influence user's compliance. Through three online studies, we investigate the effect of the robot anthropomorphism and language style on customers' willingness to follow its recommendations. The mediating role of the perceived mind and persuasiveness in this relationship is also investigated. Study 1 (n = 89) shows that a service robot with a higher level of anthropomorphic features positively influences the willingness of users to follow its recommendations while language style does not affect compliance. Study 2a (n = 168) further confirms this finding when we presented participants with a tablet vs. a service robot with an anthropomorphic appearance while communication style does not affect compliance. Finally, Study 2b (n = 122) supports the indirect effect of anthropomorphism level on the willingness to follow recommendations through perceived mind followed by persuasiveness. The findings provide valuable insight to enhance human-robot interaction in service settings.

SUBMITTER: Abdi E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9463504 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A study on the influence of service robots' level of anthropomorphism on the willingness of users to follow their recommendations.

Abdi Elahe E Tojib Dewi D Seong Alexander Kenwa AK Pamarthi Yamika Y Millington-Palmer George G

Scientific reports 20220910 1

Service robots are increasingly deployed in various industries including tourism. In spite of extensive research on the user's experience in interaction with these robots, there are yet unanswered questions about the factors that influence user's compliance. Through three online studies, we investigate the effect of the robot anthropomorphism and language style on customers' willingness to follow its recommendations. The mediating role of the perceived mind and persuasiveness in this relationshi ...[more]

PMID: 36088470

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Project description:BackgroundAs the prevalence of robots increases each year, understanding how we anthropomorphize and interact with them is extremely important. The three-factor theory of anthropomorphism, called the Sociality, Effectance, Elicited agent Knowledge model, guided this study. As anthropomorphism involves a person making attributions of human likeness toward a nonhuman object, this model implies that anthropomorphism can be influenced either by factors related to the person or the object.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore factors influencing the anthropomorphism of robots, specifically the robot's appearance (humanoid vs nonhumanoid) and agency (autonomous vs nonautonomous). We expected a humanoid robot would be anthropomorphized to a greater extent than one that was nonhumanoid. In addition, we expected that inducing an agency belief to the effect that a robot was making its own decisions would increase anthropomorphism compared with a nonagency belief that the robot was being remotely controlled by a human. We also sought to identify any role gender might play in anthropomorphizing the robot.MethodsParticipants (N=99) were primed for agency or nonagency belief conditions and then saw a brief video depicting either a humanoid or nonhumanoid robot interacting with a confederate. After viewing the video, they completed 4 measures: perception to humanoid robots scale (PERNOD), the Epley anthropomorphic adjectives measure, the Fussel anthropomorphic adjective checklist, and the Anthropomorphic Tendencies Scale (ATS).ResultsFindings with the PERNOD scale indicated subjects did perceive the 2 robots differently, F6,86=6.59, P<.001, which means the appearance manipulation was effective. Results with the Epley adjectives indicated that participants were more willing to attribute humanlike behavioral traits to the nonhumanoid rather than the humanoid robot, F1,91=5.76, P=.02. The Fussel adjective checklist results showed that subjects were more willing to attribute humanlike social qualities to the remote controlled than the autonomous robot, F1,91=5.30, P=.02. Finally, the ATS revealed the only gender effects in this study, with females reporting more endorsement of anthropomorphism for pets (P=.02) and less for showing negative emotions toward anthropomorphized objects (P<.001) if they had witnessed the humanoid rather than the nonhumanoid robot.ConclusionsContrary to our expectations, participants were less willing to make humanlike attributions toward a robot when its morphology was more humanlike and were more willing to make those attributions when they were told that the robot was being remotely controlled by a person rather than acting on its own. In retrospect, these outcomes may have occurred because the humanoid robot used here had a smaller overall stature than the nonhumanoid robot, perhaps making it seem more toylike and because subjects made attributions toward the person behind the remote-controlled robot rather than toward the robot itself.

Dataset Information

A study on the influence of service robots' level of anthropomorphism on the willingness of users to follow their recommendations.

Publications

A study on the influence of service robots' level of anthropomorphism on the willingness of users to follow their recommendations.

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