Judging robot ability: How people form implicit and explicit impressions of robot competence

Area of Science:

• Human-robot interaction
• Social cognition
• Psychology of artificial intelligence

Background:

• The increasing presence of robots necessitates understanding human perceptions of robot competence.
• Effective human-robot collaboration hinges on accurate competence assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how learning experiences with robots shape explicit and implicit competence impressions.
• To identify dissociations between implicit and explicit competence judgments.

Main Methods:

• Six studies involving 2,660 participants playing a competitive game with a robot.
• Measurement of explicit and implicit competence impressions post-interaction.
• Analysis of sensitivity to unexpected robot behaviors and impression updating.

Main Results:

• Explicit impressions were sensitive to rare, unusual robot behaviors, while implicit impressions required moderate prevalence.
• Explicit impressions showed a positivity bias during updating after an initial strong impression, unlike implicit impressions.
• Distinct processing of robot competence information at implicit versus explicit levels.

Conclusions:

• Human learning experiences with robots yield differential implicit and explicit competence impressions.
• Findings inform social cognitive theories of human-robot interaction and psychology toward robots.