Papers
34
Total Citations
952
H-Index
15
About
Nicolas Spatola is a cognitive and social psychologist whose research sits at the compelling intersection of human-robot interaction, anthropomorphism, and social cognition. His work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how humans perceive, evaluate, and psychologically engage with robotic agents, accumulating over 700 citations across his most influential publications alone. Spatola's most recognized contribution is the development of the Human–Robot Interaction Evaluation Scale (HRIES), a rigorously validated multicomponent framework for measuring anthropomorphism in HRI contexts (142 citations). Building on this foundation, he has explored how robots elicit emotional attributions — both explicit and implicit — and how individual personality traits, such as the need for cognition and need for closure, shape attitudes toward robotic agents. His research provocatively demonstrates that humans unconsciously process robots as social beings: cognitive load amplifies anthropomorphic attributions, and even threatening humanoid robots can enhance human cognitive performance — mirroring effects previously observed only with human social presence. Spatola has also broadened the field's theoretical scope by critically examining cross-cultural models of anthropomorphism and the role of implicit attitudes in predicting prosocial behavior toward robots. His integrative, interdisciplinary approach — bridging social psychology, cognitive science, and robotics — makes his work essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the psychological foundations of our increasingly robot-populated world.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 5Improved Cognitive Control in Presence of Anthropomorphized Robots64 citations · 2019
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- 9Cognitive Impact of Social Robots: How Anthropomorphism Boosts Performances43 citations · 2019
- 10National Stereotypes and Robots' Perception: The “Made in” Effect37 citations · 2019