Cinzia Di Dio
Papers
23
Total Citations
522
H-Index
11
About
Dr. Cinzia Di Dio is a leading developmental psychologist whose research sits at the intersection of social cognition, human-robot interaction, and moral development. Her work explores how children—from infancy through school age—attribute mental states, trust, and moral intentions to both human and robotic agents. In her highly cited studies, she has shown that children’s understanding of fairness, intentionality (e.g., distinguishing lies from mistakes), and referential gaze is shaped not only by human interaction but also by interactions with humanoid robots. Her 2020 paper on children’s mental state attribution to different robots has garnered over 113 citations, while her work on trust dynamics in child-robot interaction has received 111 citations. Dr. Di Dio has also contributed foundational reviews on the role of robotics in clinical, developmental, and educational settings, and has explored how children conceptualize God’s beliefs through the lens of theory of mind. Her research uniquely bridges developmental psychology, AI ethics, and robotics, offering critical insights into how emerging technologies reshape social cognition and moral reasoning in childhood.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Shall I Trust You? From Child–Robot Interaction to Trusting Relationships111 citations · 2020
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- 4Robotics in Clinical and Developmental Psychology36 citations · 2020
- 5Robots in Education32 citations · 2021
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