Noora Lehtonen
Papers
6
Total Citations
111
H-Index
5
About
Noora Lehtonen is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction and moral psychology. Her work explores how people perceive and ethically evaluate robots in sensitive domains, from healthcare to intimate relationships. Lehtonen’s most influential study, “Evaluating the replicability of the uncanny valley effect” (41 citations), critically examines the robustness of this foundational phenomenon in robotics, questioning how reliably eerie feelings toward near-human robots can be reproduced. She has made landmark contributions to the moral psychology of nursing robots, investigating how humans judge AI decisions in dilemmas of patient autonomy—finding that people dislike violations of autonomy yet paradoxically approve of robots disobeying orders. Her experimental work on sex robots (22 citations) reveals how pathogen disgust shapes moral judgments differently for human versus android interactions, offering novel insights into the psychology of emerging technologies. With studies involving thousands of participants across field and experimental settings, Lehtonen’s research is essential for designing ethically aligned AI systems. Her work not only advances theoretical understanding but also informs real-world deployment of robots in caregiving and intimate contexts, making her a leading voice in the ethical robotics community.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Evaluating the replicability of the uncanny valley effect41 citations · 2018
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- 6Evaluating the Replicability of the Uncanny Valley Effect3 citations · 2018