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Competing with or Against Cozmo, the Robot: Influence of Interaction Context and Outcome on Mind Perception

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Abstract

With the rise of integration of robots in our daily lives, people find their own ways of normalizing their interaction with artificial agents, one of which is attributing mind to them. Research has shown that attributing mind to an artificial agent improves the flow of the interaction and alters behavior following it. However, little is known about the the influence of the interaction context and the outcome of the interaction. Addressing this gap in the literature, we explored the influence of the Interaction Context (cooperation vs. competition) and Outcome (win vs. lose) on the attributed levels of mind to an artificial agent. To that end, we used an interactive game that consisted of trivia questions between teams of human participants and the robot Cozmo. We found that in the cooperation condition, those who lost as a team ascribed greater levels of mind to the agent compared to those who won as a team. However, participants who competed with and won against the robot attributed greater levels of mind to the agent compared to those who cooperated and won as a team. These results suggest that people attribute mind to artificial agents in a self-serving way, depending on the interaction context and outcome.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, Koc University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, 34450, Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkey

    Deniz Lefkeli & Zeynep Gürhan-Canli

  2. Departent of Psychology, Koc University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, 34450, Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkey

    Yagmur Ozbay & Terry Eskenazi

Authors
  1. Deniz Lefkeli
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  2. Yagmur Ozbay
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  3. Zeynep Gürhan-Canli
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  4. Terry Eskenazi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deniz Lefkeli.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Mental Capacities

  • Communication This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of conveying thoughts or feelings to others.

  • Consciousness This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of having experiences and being aware of things.

  • Desire This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of longing or hoping for things.

  • Embarrassment This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of Experiencing embarrassment.

  • Emotion recognition This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of understanding how others are feeling.

  • Fear This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of feeling afraid or fearful.

  • Hunger This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of feeling hungry.

  • Joy This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of experiencing joy.

  • Memory This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of remembering things.

  • Morality This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of telling right from wrong and trying to do the right thing.

  • Pain This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of experiencing physical or emotional pain.

  • Personality This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of having personality traits that make it unique from others.

  • Planning This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of making plans and working toward goal.

  • Pleasure This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of experiencing physical or emotional pleasure.

  • Pride This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of experiencing pride.

  • Rage This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of experiencing violent or uncontrolled anger.

  • Self control This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of exercising self-restraint over desires, emotions, or impulses.

  • Thought This survey asks you to judge which character is more capable of thinking.

Appendix 2

  1. 1.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of conveying thoughts to others?

  2. 2.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of conveying feelings to others?

  3. 3.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of having experiences?

  4. 4.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of being aware of things?

  5. 5.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of longing for things?

  6. 6.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of hoping for things?

  7. 7.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of experiencing embarrassment?

  8. 8.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of understanding how others are feeling?

  9. 9.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of feeling afraid?

  10. 10.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of feeling hungry?

  11. 11.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of experiencing joy?

  12. 12.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of remembering things?

  13. 13.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of telling right from wrong?

  14. 14.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of trying to do the right thing?

  15. 15.

    To what extent did you feel as if is Cozmo was capable of experiencing physical pain?

  16. 16.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of experiencing emotional pain?

  17. 17.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of having personality traits that make it unique from others?

  18. 18.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of making plans?

  19. 19.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of working toward goals?

  20. 20.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of experiencing physical pleasure?

  21. 21.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of experiencing emotional pleasure?

  22. 22.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of experiencing pride?

  23. 23.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of being violent?

  24. 24.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of experiencing uncontrolled anger?

  25. 25.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of exercising self-restraint over desires?

  26. 26.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of exercising self-restraint over emotions?

  27. 27.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of exercising self-restraint over impulses?

  28. 28.

    To what extent did you feel as if Cozmo was capable of thinking?

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Lefkeli, D., Ozbay, Y., Gürhan-Canli, Z. et al. Competing with or Against Cozmo, the Robot: Influence of Interaction Context and Outcome on Mind Perception. Int J of Soc Robotics 13, 715–724 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-020-00668-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-020-00668-3

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