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About

Markus Paulus is a developmental and social psychologist whose research sits at the intersection of human-robot interaction, moral cognition, and social development. His work investigates how people — both adults and children — perceive, relate to, and make moral judgments about robotic agents, with a particular focus on the role of anthropomorphism and emotional attribution in shaping these responses. Paulus has made significant contributions to understanding how anthropomorphic appearance and perceived agency influence moral decision-making toward robots. His 2019 study on saving robots versus humans, now cited over 105 times, demonstrated that human-like attributions meaningfully shift utilitarian judgments, raising important ethical questions for an increasingly robot-integrated society. Extending this work into developmental contexts, his research explores how children share with robots and respond to robotic movement at a neural level, offering rare insight into how young minds process non-human agents. His 2021 work on children's prosocial behavior toward robots has garnered 35 citations, reflecting growing scholarly interest in this emerging field. Collectively, Paulus's research challenges simplistic views of robots as mere tools and opens critical conversations about moral status, trust, and the evolving boundaries of social cognition across the lifespan.