Models of (Often) Ambivalent Robot Stereotypes: Content, Structure, and Predictors of Robots' Age and Gender Stereotypes

G. Perugia, Latisha Boor, Laura van der Bij, Okke Rikmenspoel, Robin Foppen, Stefano Guidi

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)
102 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This study focused on investigating the content, structure, and predictors of robots' stereotypes. We involved 120 participants in an online study and asked them to rate 80 robots on communion, agency, suitability for female and suitability for male tasks. In line with the stereotype content model, we discovered that robots' stereotypes are described by two dimensions, communion and agency, which combine to form univalent (e.g., low communion/low agency), as well as ambivalent clusters (e.g., low communion/high agency). Moreover, we found out that a robot's stereotypical appearance has a role in activating stereotypes. Indeed, in our study, female robots featuring appearance cues socio-culturally associated with femininity (e.g., eyelashes or apparel) were perceived as more communal, and juvenile robots featuring appearance cues tapping into the baby schema (e.g., cartoony eyes) were perceived as more communal, less agentic, and less suited to perform tasks. Given the renowned relationship between stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination, the causal link between appearance and stereotyping we establish in this paper can help HRI researchers disentangle the relation between robots' design and people's behavioral tendencies towards them, including proneness to harm.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHRI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages428-436
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-4503-9964-7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Mar 2023
Event18th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2023 - Stockholm, Sweden
Duration: 13 Mar 202316 Mar 2023

Conference

Conference18th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2023
Country/TerritorySweden
CityStockholm
Period13/03/2316/03/23

Keywords

  • HRI
  • bias
  • gender
  • social robots
  • stereotype content model

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