More Than a Feeling-Interrelation of Trust Layers in Human-Robot Interaction and the Role of User Dispositions and State Anxiety.

Linda Miller,Martin Baumann,Franziska Babel,Johannes Kraus

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.592711

Abstract

With service robots becoming more ubiquitous in social life, interaction design needs to adapt to novice users and the associated uncertainty in the first encounter with this technology in new emerging environments. Trust in robots is an essential psychological prerequisite to achieve safe and convenient cooperation between users and robots. This research focuses on psychological processes in which user dispositions and states affect trust in robots, which in turn is expected to impact the behavior and reactions in the interaction with robotic systems. In a laboratory experiment, the influence of propensity to trust in automation and negative attitudes toward robots on state anxiety, trust, and comfort distance toward a robot were explored. Participants were approached by a humanoid domestic robot two times and indicated their comfort distance and trust. The results favor the differentiation and interdependence of dispositional, initial, and dynamic learned trust layers. A mediation from the propensity to trust to initial learned trust by state anxiety provides an insight into the psychological processes through which personality traits might affect interindividual outcomes in human-robot interaction (HRI). The findings underline the meaningfulness of user characteristics as predictors for the initial approach to robots and the importance of considering users’ individual learning history regarding technology and robots in particular.

Highlights

Once utopian, robots are increasingly finding their way into public and private settings to assist humans in everyday tasks
The a priori attitude toward robots in general and the propensity to trust in automation seem to contribute to the understanding of interindividual differences in trust in robots and affect appropriate robot use
By integrating psychological antecedents of close human-robot collaborations such as personality traits, affect and trust, this research provides a foundation for designing robots and directions for future developments

Summary

Introduction

Robots are increasingly finding their way into public and private settings to assist humans in everyday tasks. Thereby, service robots offer numerous potentials for improvements in many fields, for example, by supporting disabled people to live more independently (e.g., Robinson et al, 2014). In these upcoming environments, robots represent a rather new and unfamiliar technology that most people have no specific knowledge or personal experience with. Robots represent a rather new and unfamiliar technology that most people have no specific knowledge or personal experience with As many of these application areas for robots are characterized by increased complexity, dynamic, and interaction with untrained novice users, the interaction design needs to account for more flexibility and adaptability to both changing surroundings and users. Regarding the adaptability to users, it is a important endeavor to reduce uncertainties and negative psychological consequences to facilitate an appropriate and repeated interaction with robots.

Methods

Results

Conclusion