Today, a robot assistant is, of course, exotic. But we will not even have time to look back, as they will become a banal attribute of our everyday life. The scope of their possible application is wide: housewife robots, tutor robots, babysitter robots. But they are capable of more. Robots can become us … friends.
A robot is a friend of man. So soon they will talk about these machines. We not only treat them as if they were alive, but also feel their imaginary «support». Of course, it only seems to us that we are establishing emotional contact with the robot. But the positive effect of imaginary communication is quite real.
Social psychologist Gurit E. Birnbaum from the Israel Center1, and her colleagues from the United States conducted two interesting studies. Participants had to share a personal story (first negative, then positive) with a small desktop robot.2. “Communicating” with one group of participants, the robot responded to the story with movements (nodding in response to the words of a person), as well as cues on the display expressing sympathy and support (for example, “Yes, you had a hard time!”).
The second half of the participants had to communicate with an «unresponsive» robot — it looked «alive» and «listening», but at the same time remained motionless, and its text responses were formal («Please tell me more»).
We react to “kind”, “sympathetic” robots in much the same way as to kind and sympathetic people.
According to the results of the experiment, it turned out that the participants who communicated with the «responsive» robot:
a) received it positively;
b) would not mind having him around in a stressful situation (for example, during a visit to the dentist);
c) their body language (leaning towards the robot, smiling, making eye contact) showed clear sympathy and warmth. The effect is interesting, considering that the robot was not even humanoid.
Next, the participants had to perform a task associated with increased stress — to introduce themselves to a potential partner. The first group had a much easier self-presentation. After communicating with a «responsive» robot, their self-esteem increased and they believed that they could well count on the reciprocal interest of a potential partner.
In other words, we react to “kind”, “sympathetic” robots in much the same way as to kind and sympathetic people, and express sympathy for them, as for people. Moreover, communication with such a robot helps to feel more confident and attractive (the same effect is produced by communication with a sympathetic person who takes our problems to heart). And this opens up another area of application for robots: at least they will be able to act as our “companions” and “confidants” and provide us with psychological support.
1 Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (Israel), www.portal.idc.ac.il/en.
2 G. Birnbaum «What Robots can Teach Us about Intimacy: The Reassuring Effects of Robot Responsiveness to Human Disclosure», Computers in Human Behavior, May 2016.