Kyungmi Chung

Papers

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About

Kyungmi Chung explores the fascinating intersection of human psychology and robotics, focusing on how people perceive, interact with, and form emotional bonds with robots. Her research centers on key areas such as anthropomorphism, empathy, and the role of design attributes—like color, gender labeling, and “coolness”—in shaping human-robot relationships. In her highly cited 2015 study, “Do People Purchase a Robot Because of Its Coolness?” (9 citations), she demonstrated that perceived coolness and usefulness are powerful predictors of purchase intention, mediated by user attitude. Her foundational 2013 work, “Empathy between human and robot?” (9 citations), tackles a profound question: whether humans can perceive robots as having a social presence, applying sociological and psychological frameworks to observe emotional and perceptual shifts during interaction. Chung’s 2015 study on color-gender-labeled pet robots (5 citations) further reveals how anthropomorphic cues influence perceptions of animacy, likeability, and safety. Through these contributions, Chung advances our understanding of how design and emotion drive acceptance of social robots, offering critical insights for developers and researchers aiming to create more engaging, empathetic machines.