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About

Nicholas Hertz investigates the psychological dynamics between humans and nonhuman agents—computers, robots, and AI—probing how we treat machines as social actors. His work sits at the intersection of social psychology and human-robot interaction, exploring conformity, advice-seeking, and social facilitation in technology-infused environments. In his most-cited paper, "Good advice is beyond all price, but what if it comes from a machine?" (61 citations), Hertz demonstrates that humans are willing to consider advice from nonhuman agents, but only when the agent is perceived as a good fit for the task—a finding with profound implications for AI integration in the workplace. His 2018 study "Under Pressure" (53 citations) reveals that computers and robots can induce social conformity effects, with the strength of influence varying by how human-like the agent appears and the ambiguity of the task. Hertz has shown that social facilitation—the boost in performance from an audience—can occur even when the audience is a machine. By extending classic social psychological phenomena into human-machine contexts, Hertz is mapping the emerging psychology of our hybrid social world.