You Did That on Purpose! An Investigation of the Knobe Effect in Human-Robot Interactions

Abstract

As robots are becoming increasingly intelligent and
\nautonomous, situations will increase where robots make
\ndecisions that cause side-effects. To investigate
\nhumans’ intentionality judgments in these situations,
\nthis study examines the Knobe effect in human-robot
\ninteractions. The Knobe effect describes the
\nphenomenon that the perceived goodness or badness of
\nthe side effect of actions asymmetrically influences
\npeople’s intentionality attributions. Examining three
\ndifferent agents (i.e., human, humanoid robot, android
\nrobot), we found a Knobe effect for the human agent and
\nthe android robot, but not for the humanoid robot. The
\nresults suggest that as robots become more human-like,
\nthe Knobe effect becomes more relevant. Furthermore,
\na mediation analysis shows that existing explanatory
\napproaches of the Knobe effect cannot mediate the effect
\nof the nature of the side effect on intentionality
\njudgments in the android robot. This work provides
\nimportant insights into the debate about robots as
\nintentional agents.