Jessica Branyon Thesis Proposal
Committee: Dr. Richard Pak (chair), Dr. Patrick Rosopa, and Dr. Kelly Caine
When: Wednesday, February 18th, 2014 at 12 pm
Where: Brackett 419
Title: Investigating Older Adults’ Trust, Causal Attributions, and Perception of Capabilities in Robots as a Function of Robot Appearance, Task, and Reliability
Abstract: The purpose of the current study is to examine the extent to which the appearance, task, and reliability of a robot is susceptible to stereotypic thinking. When interacting with technology, people focus on human-like qualities of the technology more than the asocial nature of the interaction, attributing human-like qualities such as personality, mindfulness, and social characteristics. The attribution of human-like qualities makes technology susceptible to stereotyping based on appearance and etiquette. Stereotypes can influence the types of causal attributions that people make about the performance of others. Just as causal attributions may affect an individual’s perception of other people, it may similarly affect perceptions of technology. Stereotypes can also influence perceived capabilities of others. That is, in situations where stereotypes are activated, an individual’s perceived capabilities are typically diminished. The tendency to adjust perceptions of capabilities of others may translate into levels of trust placed in the individual’s abilities. A cross-sectional factorial survey using video vignettes will be utilized to assess young adults’ and older adults’ attitudes toward a robot’s behavior and appearance. We hypothesize that a robot’s older appearance will result in lower levels of trust, more dispositional attributions, and lower perceptions of capabilities while high reliability should positively impact trust.
