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Shall I Trust You? From Child-Robot Interaction to Trusting Relationships
Cinzia Di Dio1, Federico Manzi1, Giulia Peretti1
1Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
Frontiers in Psychology
|April 23, 2020
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Human-Robot Interaction
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Robots are increasingly present in social contexts like education and healthcare.
- Understanding trust dynamics in human-robot interaction is crucial for effective integration.
- Children's developing cognitive and social skills influence their trust in interactive agents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how children aged 3-7 acquire, lose, and restore trust with human and humanoid robot partners.
- To examine the relationship between trust and attachment quality, Theory of Mind, and executive functions in children.
- To explore children's beliefs about robots' mental states and compare them to their behavior.
Main Methods:
- An in vivo study where children played with a human or a humanoid robot.
- Assessment of trust, attachment quality, Theory of Mind, and executive functions.
- Evaluation of mental state attribution to the interactive partner.
Main Results:
- No significant overall differences in trust between human and robot partners.
- 3-year-olds showed a trend to trust humans more; 7-year-olds trusted robots more.
- Cognitive flexibility (switching ability) was linked to trust restoration differently based on age and partner type.
- Children attributed fewer mental states to robots than humans, yet behaved similarly in a trust game.
Conclusions:
- Similar psychological mechanisms underlie trust formation with both human and robot partners.
- Developmental interplay between attachment, Theory of Mind, and executive functions shapes trust dynamics.
- Age and partner type (human vs. robot) modulate trust development in children.
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