98 - The Psychology of Human-Robot Interactions

How easily do we anthropomorphise robots? Do we see them as moral agents or, even, moral patients? Can we dehumanise them? These are some of the questions addressed in this episode with my guests, Dennis Küster and Aleksandra Świderska. Dennis is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bremen. Aleksandra is a senior researcher at the University of Warsaw. They have worked together on a number of studies about how humans perceive and respond to robots. We discuss several of their joint studies in this episode.

You can download the episode here or listen below. You can also subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and other podcasting services (the RSS feed is here).

• Dennis's webpage
• Aleksandra's webpage
• 'I saw it on YouTube! How online videos shape perceptions of mind, morality, and fears about robots' by Dennis, Aleksandra and David Gunkel
• 'Robots as malevolent moral agents: Harmful behavior results in dehumanization, not anthropomorphism' by Aleksandra and Dennis
• 'Seeing the mind of robots: Harm augments mind perception but benevolent intentions reduce dehumanisation of artificial entities in visual vignettes' by Dennis and Aleksandra