Francisco Esteves

Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Mid Sweden University

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Francisco Esteves is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction and moral psychology, whose work explores how the presence of robotic agents influences human honesty and dishonesty. His key research areas include deceptive behavior in human-robot interactions, the psychological effects of robot presence on ethical decision-making, and perceptions of dishonesty toward machines. Esteves’s major contributions center on demonstrating that people are willing to cheat in the presence of robots—often with little remorse—and that factors like situation awareness and physical embodiment shape dishonest behavior. His most cited paper, “Cheating with robots: how at ease do they make us feel?” (2019, 18 citations), established a foundational understanding of how humans rationalize dishonesty when interacting with non-human agents. Subsequent studies, including “Human Dishonesty in the Presence of a Robot” (2022, 10 citations) and “The effect of a robotic agent on dishonest behavior” (2020, 8 citations), have deepened insights into the nuanced dynamics of trust, morality, and social presence in human-robot settings. Esteves’s work is critical for designing ethical AI and robotics systems that anticipate and mitigate unintended behavioral influences, making him a key voice in the future of responsible automation.