Those A-Maze-Ing Robots: Attributions of Ability are Based on Form, not Behavior

Abstract

Participants were introduced to one of three robots-a bipedal Robosapien, a treaded vehicle, and a wheeled vehicle. They then used voice commands to guide this entity through a maze from a remote destination. Feedback was given via an arrow that showed the entity either responding to the voice commands or ignoring them. The same feedback was given in all conditions. However, participant ratings of mood and their attributions for the robots' abilities and functions differed. These results suggest that interactions with non-human intelligent entities are largely guided by pre-existing schemas. Additionally, individual differences in perceived control over a caregiving situation were predictive of responses to the robot, further supporting the idea that schemas for certain types of human-human interactions are activated by synthetic agents.