Would you trust a robot with your mental health? The interaction of emotion and logic in persuasive backfiring

Abstract

Building trust in robots through social interactions has a major impact on user experience and adoption of robot technologies. The role of trust in such interactions is associated with the persuasive influence a robot has on humans. A persuasive attempt may decrease trusting attitudes towards robots if it leads to persuasive backfiring, which refers to the creation of an attitude change in a direction opposite to the one intended by the intervention. In order to explore persuasive backfiring in the context of Human-Robot Interaction, this research study tests the interaction between emotion and logic as elements present both in the attitudes to be influenced, and in the persuasive appeal delivered by a robot. Results indicate a significant backfiring effect when emotions are used to influence attitudes that are based on logic. This observation has practical design implications for persuasive robots, especially in high-stakes fields such as Psychotherapy and Urban Search and Rescue.