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The Influence of Robot Facial Expression and Inclusion Behavior on Rapport and Trust in Older Adults: Mixed-Factorial
Hsiu-Ping Yueh1, Kuang-Chi Lin2, Weijane Lin3
1Department of Psychology/Bio-Industry Communication & Development/Mechanical Engineering, Research Center for Digital Humanities, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
JMIR Aging
|July 15, 2026
Summary
Social robots with happy facial expressions and inclusive behaviors improve older adults' rapport and trust. However, positive effects were amplified under exclusive interaction, suggesting older adults value equitable treatment from robots.
Area of Science:
- Human-Robot Interaction
- Gerontology
- Social Robotics
Background:
- The World Health Organization highlights relationship capacity as key to healthy aging.
- Social robots can support relational aspects of aging, but interaction quality is crucial.
- The combined impact of robot facial expressions and interaction styles on older adults' rapport is understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the main and interaction effects of robot facial expression (happy vs. unhappy) and interaction style (inclusive vs. exclusive).
- To examine the influence of these factors on rapport development between social robots and community-dwelling older adults.
Main Methods:
- A 2x2 mixed-factorial experimental design with 53 older adults (mean age 70.57).
- Participants interacted with humanoid robots exhibiting varied facial expressions and interaction styles in a gamified task.
- Measures included robot acceptance, rapport, rapport expectation, trust, and behavioral designation frequencies.
Main Results:
- Happy facial expressions significantly improved acceptance, rapport, expectations, and trust.
- Inclusive interaction style positively affected rapport and rapport expectations.
- Significant interaction effects showed happy expressions had a greater positive impact under exclusive interaction conditions; older adults favored the exclusive robot.
Conclusions:
- Positive facial expressions and inclusive behaviors enhance older adult rapport and trust with social robots.
- Synergistic effects were observed under exclusive interaction, indicating older adults' perception of robots as social entities deserving equitable treatment.
- Findings provide evidence-based guidelines for designing social robots to support the relational aspects of healthy aging.
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