Andrew Steain
Papers
1
Total Citations
20
H-Index
1
About
Andrew Steain’s research lies at the compelling intersection of social robotics, human-robot interaction, and social psychology. His most cited work, "The black sheep effect: The case of the deviant ingroup robot" (2019, 20 citations), makes a significant contribution by demonstrating that the black sheep effect—whereby norm-violating ingroup members are judged more harshly than similar outgroup members—extends to human-robot groups. This finding challenges assumptions about how people categorize and evaluate robots, revealing that social identity processes can apply to non-human agents. Steain’s work is notable for bridging social psychological theory with robotics, showing that robots can be perceived as genuine ingroup members subject to the same evaluative biases as humans. This research has important implications for designing robots that integrate into human social environments, as it suggests that robot behavior must adhere to group norms to avoid harsh judgment. With a growing citation count, Steain is establishing himself as a key voice in understanding the nuanced social dynamics between humans and robots, pushing the field beyond simple acceptance or rejection models toward more sophisticated social identity frameworks.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1The black sheep effect: The case of the deviant ingroup robot20 citations · 2019