Our weekly SRI Seminar Series welcomes Jason Plaks, a recently appointed SRI faculty fellow who is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. Plaks’ research and teaching areas include social cognition, motivation and goal setting, prejudice and stereotyping, and self and identity. His current research focuses on uncovering folk beliefs that form the foundations of moral and political cognition. In this seminar, Plaks will describe his recent work towards developing a comprehensive model of the psychology of human-robot trust.
Talk title:
“R2D2 vs. HAL 9000: Specifying psychological features of robots that encourage–and discourage–human trust”
Abstract:
Trust is a central contributor to humans’ willingness to engage with robots. What increases – and what decreases – humans’ trust that a given robot has everyone’s best interests in mind? In contrast with research that has examined effects of variation in robots’ physical features, my lab has begun to examine how variation in psychological features affects perceived trustworthiness/untrustworthiness. I will describe recent work in which participants played a Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma game against a human or robotic counterpart. The counterpart was randomly varied to display high versus low levels of four theoretically and empirically derived dimensions of humanness: Values, Autonomy, Social Connection, and Self-Aware Emotions. According to the Humanization Hypothesis, changing a robot’s level on a given psychological dimension to the more ‘human’ level should elicit higher trust. However, according to the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis, higher perceived humanness should elicit higher unease and, in turn, lower trust. Results revealed that varying the robotic counterpart’s commitment to values from low to high led participants to play more cooperatively, a pattern consistent with the Humanization Hypothesis. At the same time, varying the robot’s self-aware emotions from low to high led participants to play more competitively, a pattern consistent with the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis. These data suggest that imbuing a robot with a moral sense fosters trust, but imbuing a robot with a high level of self-awareness hinders trust. This work represents a starting point for the development of a more comprehensive model of the psychology of human-robot trust.
Suggested readings:
Y.E. Bigman, K. Gray, “People are averse to machines making moral decisions,” Cognition Vol. 181, December 2018, pp. 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.08.003
A. Waytz, J. Heafner, N. Epley, “The mind in the machine: Anthropomorphism increases trust in an autonomous vehicle,” Journal of Experimental Psychology Vol. 52, May 2014, pp. 113-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2014.01.005
About Jason Plaks
Jason Plaks (Dept. of Psychology) received a B.A. from Princeton University in 1993 and a PhD from Columbia University in 2001. He taught at the University of Washington from 2001 to 2006, and has been a faculty member at the University of Toronto since 2007. Plaks is a Fellow of the Society for Experimental Psychology and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and a consulting editor for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. His research focuses on uncovering folk beliefs that form the foundations of moral and political cognition.
About the SRI Seminar Series
The SRI Seminar Series brings together the Schwartz Reisman community and beyond for a robust exchange of ideas that advance scholarship at the intersection of technology and society. Seminars are led by a leading or emerging scholar and feature extensive discussion.
Each week, a featured speaker will present for 45 minutes, followed by 45 minutes of discussion. Registered attendees will be emailed a Zoom link approximately one hour before the event begins. The event will be recorded and posted online.
Jason Plaks