Papers
6
Total Citations
474
H-Index
6
About
T. Franklin Waddell is a leading scholar at the intersection of human-computer interaction, media psychology, and communication technology. His research primarily investigates how audiences perceive and evaluate automated content, particularly in journalism, and how individuals form attitudes toward robots and artificial intelligence. Waddell’s most influential work, “A Robot Wrote This?” (2017, 161 citations), experimentally demonstrates how automation in news production affects audience credibility judgments, drawing on expectancy violation theory and the MAIN model. He has also made significant contributions to understanding technology adoption among older adults, notably through his studies on “The Hollywood Robot Syndrome” (78 citations) and robot acceptance in senior populations (123 citations). His work on robot gender perception (“Feminizing Robots,” 55 citations) explores how design choices influence user expectations and acceptance. Waddell’s research on attribution practices for automated content (2019, 28 citations) has practical implications for news organizations navigating the rise of AI journalism. His findings consistently challenge assumptions about human-machine collaboration, revealing nuanced audience responses that shape both theoretical frameworks and real-world technology deployment strategies.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1A Robot Wrote This?161 citations · 2017
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- 4Feminizing Robots55 citations · 2016
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