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How Human-like Behavior of Service Robot Affects Social Distance: A Mediation Model and Cross-Cultural Comparison.
Linyao Li1, Yi Li1, Bo Song2,3
1School of Economics and Management, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 25, 2022
Summary
Service robots exhibiting human-like behavior reduce social distance by increasing perceptions of competence and warmth. This effect holds across cultures, enhancing human-robot interaction.
Area of Science:
- Robotics
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Previous research on service robot human likeness primarily focused on appearance, using psychological metrics.
- This study shifts focus to human-like behavior and employs a sociological construct, social distance, to measure outcomes.
- Social identity theory provides the framework for understanding the mediators of human likeness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of human-like behavior in service robots on social distance.
- To examine the mediating roles of perceived competence and warmth in the relationship between human-like behavior and social distance.
- To compare these effects across Chinese and American cultural contexts.
Main Methods:
- Online experiments were conducted with 219 Chinese and 180 American participants.
- Participants evaluated service robots with varying degrees of human-like behavior.
- Conceptual model tested hypotheses regarding perceived competence, warmth, and social distance.
Main Results:
- Higher human-like behavior in service robots led to increased perceptions of competence and warmth in both Chinese and American participants.
- Both competence and warmth fully mediated the effect of human-like behavior on reducing social distance.
- Chinese participants exhibited higher anthropomorphism, warmth perception, and smaller social distance compared to American participants, though competence perception was similar.
Conclusions:
- Human-like behavior in service robots is crucial for reducing social distance and fostering acceptance.
- Perceived competence and warmth are key mediators in this process, highlighting their importance in robot design.
- Cultural differences exist in anthropomorphism and social distance, but the core mechanisms of human-like behavior's impact are consistent.
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