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Yes, of Course? An Investigation on Obedience and Feelings of Shame Towards a Robot

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Book cover Social Robotics (ICSR 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 10652))

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Abstract

Robots are entering our domestic lives and might soon take over positions with a certain level of authority. This study investigates how people respond to a robot that gives unusual or ridicule commands that can evoke feelings of shame. Participants reported feeling more ashamed after the experiment than before and reaction times were longer when the robot was giving commands as compared to a human. The results highlight the challenges and complexity of research on obedience towards robots and explores to what extent people will follow unusual and embarrassing commands from a robot compared to a human.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dagmar Unz of the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt for lending her Aldebaran Nao robot for the duration of the experiment. I would also like to thank Kristina Max, Nora Salomon, Alice Wisniewski and Berfin Köse for their assistance in the experimental sessions.

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Correspondence to Isabelle M. Menne .

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Menne, I.M. (2017). Yes, of Course? An Investigation on Obedience and Feelings of Shame Towards a Robot. In: Kheddar, A., et al. Social Robotics. ICSR 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10652. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70022-9_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70022-9_36

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70021-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70022-9

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