Sarda Gou, M., Webb, T.L. orcid.org/0000-0001-9320-0068 and Prescott, T. orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5390 (2021) The effect of direct and extended contact on attitudes towards social robots. Heliyon, 7 (3). e06418. ISSN 2405-8440
Abstract
The development of social robots has the potential to address significant societal concerns, however, most people have limited experience of such technology. The present research investigated whether techniques borrowed from the psychology of intergroup relations – namely direct and extended contact – affect people's attitudes towards robots. Participants were provided with either direct contact with a social robot or extended contact (these participants watched a video recorded by a friend who had met the robot) before their explicit and implicit attitudes towards robots were measured. Results indicated that direct contact affected both explicit and implicit attitudes, while extended contact affected implicit attitudes. The implication of these findings is that contact with a robot, direct or indirect, can change attitudes; much as previous research has shown that contact with a person who is a member of an out-group can change attitudes towards that group. We conclude that methods and theories from the study of human intergroup relationships can be usefully applied to understand attitudes toward social robots.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Human-robot interaction; Contact theory; Extended contact; Attitudes; Social robotics |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Computer Science (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number WELLCOME TRUST (THE) 214963/A/18/Z |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 31 Mar 2021 08:36 |
Last Modified: | 31 Mar 2021 08:36 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06418 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:172729 |