Gendered Actions with a Genderless Robot: Gender Attribution to Humanoid Robots in Action

Area of Science:

• Human-Robot Interaction
• Social Robotics
• Gender Studies

Background:

• Gender stereotypes influence human social cognition.
• The gender of social robots is often assumed or assigned by users.
• Understanding factors influencing robot gender attribution is crucial for designing human-like robots.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of gender stereotypes on gender attribution to social robots.
• To examine if a robot's performed actions influence its perceived gender.
• To compare personal (self-view) and societal (society-view) perceptions of robot gender.

Main Methods:

• A three-stage study involving participant surveys to identify masculine/feminine actions and select a gender-neutral robot.
• Creation of animation videos showing the robot performing gendered actions.
• Evaluation of the robot's gender attribution by participants based on self-view and society-view, using the Socialization of Gender Norms Scale (SGNS).

Main Results:

• A neutral robot was perceived as feminine when performing feminine actions and masculine when performing masculine actions.
• Societal views amplified gender attribution more than personal views, especially for masculine actions.
• The Socialization of Gender Norms Scale (SGNS) predicted societal views for feminine actions.

Conclusions:

• People readily attribute gender to social robots based on their performed tasks.
• Societal gender norms significantly influence the perceived gender of robots.
• Robot design should consider the potential for gender stereotyping in human-robot interaction.