Social science
Related papers: 20
About
Social science is an interdisciplinary domain encompassing sociology, psychology, economics, political science, and related fields that systematically studies human behavior, social structures, institutions, and cultural dynamics. In robotics and AI, social science plays a critical role in shaping how intelligent systems are designed to interact with people — informing everything from human-robot interaction (HRI) and trust-building to ethical frameworks governing autonomous systems. Researchers draw on social science methods to understand how users perceive robots anthropomorphically, how collaborative learning emerges in human-AI teams, and how robotic deployment reshapes workplaces, healthcare, hospitality, and public life. Social constructivist perspectives help engineers recognize that technology is not value-neutral but embedded within cultural and organizational contexts. As robots increasingly enter everyday environments — serving customers, assisting in surgery, or operating in disaster zones — social science provides essential tools for evaluating user experience, addressing equity concerns, and ensuring meaningful human control. Its integration into robotics research bridges technical capability with human values, making it indispensable for developing AI systems that are not only functional but socially responsible and broadly beneficial.
Top Researchers
Rodney A. Brooks
Institution: —
Marco Dorigo
Institution: —
Marc Peter Deisenroth
Institution: —
Gregory D. Hager
Institution: —
Nils J. Nilsson
Institution: —
Illah Nourbakhsh
Institution: —
Kerstin Dautenhahn
Institution: —
Shaun Gallagher
Institution: —
Christoph Bartneck
Institution: —
Iain D. Couzin
Institution: —
Top Institutes
Top Cited Papers
Making the Social World
John R. Searle
Citations: 1764 • 2010
Collaborative learning : cognitive and computational approaches
Pierre Dillenbourg
Citations: 1324 • 1999
A review of social science on digital agriculture, smart farming and agriculture 4.0: New contributions and a future research agenda
Laurens Klerkx, Emma Jakku, Pierre Labarthe
Citations: 1150 • 2019
Constructionism in Practice: Designing, Thinking, and Learning in A Digital World
Yasmin B. Kafai, Mitchel Resnick
Citations: 1000 • 1996
Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding It Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology
Langdon Winner
Citations: 905 • 1993
The Quest for Artificial Intelligence
Nils J. Nilsson
Citations: 772 • 2009
Research Design in Clinical Psychology
Alan E. Kazdin
Citations: 659 • 2023
A Mass-Produced Sociable Humanoid Robot: Pepper: The First Machine of Its Kind
Amit Kumar Pandey, Rodolphe Gélin
Citations: 594 • 2018
Anthropomorphism: Opportunities and Challenges in Human–Robot Interaction
Jakub Złotowski, Diane Proudfoot, Kumar Yogeeswaran, Christoph Bartneck
Citations: 582 • 2014
Between Naturalism and Religion: Philosophical Essays
Ciaran Cronin
Citations: 526 • 2008
All robots are not created equal
Carl DiSalvo, Francine Gemperle, Jodi Forlizzi, Sara Kiesler
Citations: 489 • 2002
Exploring customer experiences with robotics in hospitality
Vincent Wing Sun Tung, Norman Au
Citations: 463 • 2018
Meaningful Human Control over Autonomous Systems: A Philosophical Account
Filippo Santoni de Sio, Jeroen van den Hoven
Citations: 458 • 2018
Reconfiguring Boundary Relations: Robotic Innovations in Pharmacy Work
Michael Barrett, Eivor Oborn, Wanda J. Orlikowski, JoAnne Yates
Citations: 416 • 2011
The Human Face as a Dynamic Tool for Social Communication
Rachael E. Jack, Philippe G. Schyns
Citations: 400 • 2015
Artificial intelligence for good health: a scoping review of the ethics literature
Kathleen Murphy, Erica Di Ruggiero, Ross Upshur, Donald J. Willison, Neha Malhotra, Jia Cai, Nakul Malhotra, Vincci Lui, Jennifer Gibson
Citations: 395 • 2021
The potential for tourism and hospitality experience research in human-robot interactions
Vincent Wing Sun Tung, Rob Law
Citations: 390 • 2017
Enter the Robot Journalist
Christer Clerwall
Citations: 358 • 2014
Ten-Year Cross-Disciplinary Comparison of the Growth of Open Access and How it Increases Research Citation Impact
Chawki Hajjem, Stevan Harnad, Yves Gingras
Citations: 356 • 2006
Impact of AI and robotics in the tourism sector: a critical insight
Samala Nagaraj, Bharath Shashanka Katkam, Raja Shekhar Bellamkonda, Raul V. Rodriguez
Citations: 355 • 2020