The Development of Anthropomorphism in Interaction: Intersubjectivity, Imagination, and Theory of Mind

Ecology, ethology, and evolution in the Anthropocene

The 53rd Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C 2023) took place at Western University (London, Canada) on 25-27 May 2023, attracting 160 participants. This Meeting Review aims not only to recapitulate what was discussed during the event, but also to provide a brief synthesis of how biologists can move forward. The event was organised and run by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from the Department of Biology at Western University. With three international keynote speakers, seventy talks, and fifty poster presentations, the OE3C 2023 spanned a wide range of contemporary research in Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution ("the 3 E's"). The colloquium theme was "Surviving the Anthropocene: future steps for the 3 E's under pressing planetary issues", which was complemented by illustrations depicting the fauna and flora of the "Canadian Anthropocene". Participants discussed what biologists and researchers can do regarding future climate and environmental catastrophes. The meeting culminated in a panel discussion comprising three climate change specialists who examined topics such as the Anthropocene and the Great acceleration, the living planet index, and carbon bombs. Although not exhaustive, these topics served as a starting point for the necessary discussions about how biologists can contribute to the fight for the survival of life on Earth.

Personality traits and the degree of work addiction among Polish women: the mediating role of depressiveness

Objectives

Workaholism is an addiction, however the obsessive-compulsive components alone may prove insufficient in determining its nature. The aim of the following study was to determine the mediating role of depressiveness in the relationships between workaholism and personality traits according to the five-factor model among Polish women.

Methods

The research study was carried out among 556 women residing in the West Pomerania Voivodeship in Poland. The research was based on a survey performed using a questionnaire technique. The following research instruments adapted to Polish conditions were employed to assess the incidence of work addiction among female adults: The NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), The Work Addiction Risk Test (WART) Questionnaire, and The Beck Depression Inventory-BDI I-II.

Results

A positive correlation between the intensity of neuroticism and the work addiction risk was revealed (β = 0.204, p < 0.001). A partial mediation (35%) with the severity of depression symptoms as a mediating factor was observed (β = 0.110, p < 0.001). Respondents characterized by high neuroticism showed a greater severity of the symptoms of depression (β = 0.482, p < 0.001), which is a factor increasing the work addiction risk (β = 0.228, p < 0.001). No effect of extraversion intensity on the work addiction risk was found (β = 0.068, p = 0.081). Respondents characterized by a high level of extraversion displayed lower severity of the symptoms of depression (β = -0.274, p < 0.001). A negative correlation between the intensity of agreeableness and the work addiction risk was revealed (β = -0.147, p < 0.001). A partial mediation (27.8%) was observed. A positive correlation between the intensity of conscientiousness and the work addiction risk was revealed (β = 0.082, p = 0.047). Respondents characterized by a high level of conscientiousness showed a lower severity of depression symptoms (β = -0.211, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Depressiveness plays the role of a mediator between neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness as well as conscientiousness, and work addiction. Depressiveness is a factor which increases the risk of work addiction.

Autism, pets, and the importance of seeing human

People often see the human in the nonhuman, a process called anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is particularly prolific regarding the humanization of pets. Some research suggests that people with autism may not anthropomorphize to the same degree as neurotypicals. In this study, we explored whether there were differences in how autistic and neurotypical pet owners anthropomorphized their pets. We also examined differences in levels of connectedness to nature and experiences of loneliness and how this corresponded to autistic traits in the entire sample. We found anthropomorphism was as common among autistic pet owners as in neurotypicals. However, autistic pet owners reported greater loneliness and were more likely to substitute pets for people. We also found that neurotypical pet owners rated pets more highly on physical, non-anthropomorphic traits (i.e., muscular, active). In contrast, autistic pet owners were likelier to rate pets equally between physical and anthropomorphic traits. Moreover, we found that anthropomorphism and connection to nature were positively correlated with autistic traits. These findings challenge accounts stating that individuals with autism may not anthropomorphize to the same degree as neurotypicals. Implications for animal-based interventions supporting adults on the spectrum are discussed.

How AI's Self-Prolongation Influences People's Perceptions of Its Autonomous Mind: The Case of U.S. Residents

The expanding integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in various aspects of society makes the infosphere around us increasingly complex. Humanity already faces many obstacles trying to have a better understanding of our own minds, but now we have to continue finding ways to make sense of the minds of AI. The issue of AI's capability to have independent thinking is of special attention. When dealing with such an unfamiliar concept, people may rely on existing human properties, such as survival desire, to make assessments. Employing information-processing-based Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics on a dataset of 266 residents in the United States, we found that the more people believe that an AI agent seeks continued functioning, the more they believe in that AI agent's capability of having a mind of its own. Moreover, we also found that the above association becomes stronger if a person is more familiar with personally interacting with AI. This suggests a directional pattern of value reinforcement in perceptions of AI. As the information processing of AI becomes even more sophisticated in the future, it will be much harder to set clear boundaries about what it means to have an autonomous mind.

The Effects of Social Presence and Familiarity on Children-Robot Interactions

In children-robot interactions, an impression of a robot's "social presence" (i.e., an interactive agent that feels like a person) links positively to an improved relationship with the robot. However, building relationships takes many exposures, and there is an intellectual gap in how social presence and familiarity collaborate in modulating children-robot relationships. We investigated whether social presence altered over time, how repeated exposure and social presence affected rapport, and how social presence would modulate children's attitudes toward the robot. Fourteen children (four female, age = 10.79 ± 1.12) interacted with a companion robot for four days in spontaneous interactions. The findings revealed that children who perceived the robot as having a higher social presence developed a stronger rapport than those who perceived a lower social presence. However, repeated encounters did not change the children's perceptions of the robot's social presence. Children rated higher rapport after repeated interactions regardless of social presence levels. This suggests that while a higher social presence initially elevated the positive relationship between children and the robot, it was the repeated interactions that continued solidifying the rapport. Additionally, children who perceived a higher social presence from the robot felt less relational uneasiness about their relationship with robots. These findings highlight the importance of robots' social presence and familiarity in promoting positive relationships in children-robot interaction.

Trusting Automation: Designing for Responsivity and Resilience

OBJECTIVE

This paper reviews recent articles related to human trust in automation to guide research and design for increasingly capable automation in complex work environments.

BACKGROUND

Two recent trends-the development of increasingly capable automation and the flattening of organizational hierarchies-suggest a reframing of trust in automation is needed.

METHOD

Many publications related to human trust and human-automation interaction were integrated in this narrative literature review.

RESULTS

Much research has focused on calibrating human trust to promote appropriate reliance on automation. This approach neglects relational aspects of increasingly capable automation and system-level outcomes, such as cooperation and resilience. To address these limitations, we adopt a relational framing of trust based on the decision situation, semiotics, interaction sequence, and strategy. This relational framework stresses that the goal is not to maximize trust, or to even calibrate trust, but to support a process of trusting through automation responsivity.

CONCLUSION

This framing clarifies why future work on trust in automation should consider not just individual characteristics and how automation influences people, but also how people can influence automation and how interdependent interactions affect trusting automation. In these new technological and organizational contexts that shift human operators to co-operators of automation, automation responsivity and the ability to resolve conflicting goals may be more relevant than reliability and reliance for advancing system design.

APPLICATION

A conceptual model comprising four concepts-situation, semiotics, strategy, and sequence-can guide future trust research and design for automation responsivity and more resilient human-automation systems.

Human-Like Movements of Industrial Robots Positively Impact Observer Perception

The number of industrial robots and collaborative robots on manufacturing shopfloors has been rapidly increasing over the past decades. However, research on industrial robot perception and attributions toward them is scarce as related work has predominantly explored the effect of robot appearance, movement patterns, or human-likeness of humanoid robots. The current research specifically examines attributions and perceptions of industrial robots-specifically, articulated collaborative robots-and how the type of movements of such robots impact human perception and preference. We developed and empirically tested a novel model of robot movement behavior and demonstrate how altering the movement behavior of a robotic arm leads to differing attributions of the robot's human-likeness. These findings have important implications for emerging research on the impact of robot movement on worker perception, preferences, and behavior in industrial settings.

Loneliness and the Degree of Addiction to Shopping and Work among Polish Women: The Mediating Role of Depression

(1) The aim of the research was to try to define the mediating role of depression in the relationship between addiction to shopping and work and loneliness, understood in terms of general loneliness among Polish women. (2) The study was conducted among 556 women. The research was carried out with the use of the diagnostic survey method, using the questionnaire technique: the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, the Purchasing Behavior Scale, the Work Addiction Risk Test, Beck Depression Inventory, and our own questionnaire. (3) Depression is a mediator in the relationship between the feeling of loneliness and the degree of addiction to shopping (β = −0.0246, z = −2.03, p = 0.043) and in the relationship between the feeling of loneliness and the degree of addiction to work (β = −0.0722, z = −4.002, p < 0.001). The direct impact of the feeling of loneliness on the degree of addiction to shopping (p = 0.237) and work (p = 0.576) is statistically insignificant. (4) Depression plays the role of a mediator between the feeling of loneliness and the degree of addiction to shopping and work. An increase in the level of depression increases the degree of addiction to shopping and work. The mediator’s participation lowers the loneliness feeling level.

Different models of anthropomorphism across cultures and ontological limits in current frameworks the integrative framework of anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism describes the tendency to ascribe human characteristics to nonhuman agents. Due to the increased interest in social robotics, anthropomorphism has become a core concept of human-robot interaction (HRI) studies. However, the wide use of this concept resulted in an interchangeability of its definition. In the present study, we propose an integrative framework of anthropomorphism (IFA) encompassing three levels: cultural, individual general tendencies, and direct attributions of human-like characteristics to robots. We also acknowledge the Western bias of the state-of-the-art view of anthropomorphism and develop a cross-cultural approach. In two studies, participants from various cultures completed tasks and questionnaires assessing their animism beliefs, individual tendencies to endow robots with mental properties, spirit, and consider them as more or less human. We also evaluated their attributions of mental anthropomorphic characteristics towards robots (i.e., cognition, emotion, intention). Our results demonstrate, in both experiments, that a three-level model (as hypothesized in the IFA) reliably explains the collected data. We found an overall influence of animism (cultural level) on the two lower levels, and an influence of the individual tendencies to mentalize, spiritualize and humanize (individual level) on the attribution of cognition, emotion and intention. In addition, in Experiment 2, the analyses show a more anthropocentric view of the mind for Western than East-Asian participants. As such, Western perception of robots depends more on humanization while East-Asian on mentalization. We further discuss these results in relation to the anthropomorphism literature and argue for the use of integrative cross-cultural model in HRI research.

Anthropomorphizing Technology: A Conceptual Review of Anthropomorphism Research and How it Relates to Children's Engagements with Digital Voice Assistants

‘Anthropomorphism’ is a popular term in the literature on human-technology engagements, in general, and child-technology engagements, in particular. But what does it really mean to ‘anthropomorphize’ something in today’s world? This conceptual review article, addressed to researchers interested in anthropomorphism and adjacent areas, reviews contemporary anthropomorphism research, and it offers a critical perspective on how anthropomorphism research relates to today’s children who grow up amid increasingly intelligent and omnipresent technologies, particularly digital voice assistants (e.g., Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri). First, the article reviews a comprehensive body of quantitative as well as qualitative anthropomorphism research and considers it within three different research perspectives: descriptive, normative and explanatory. Following a brief excursus on philosophical pragmatism, the article then discusses each research perspective from a pragmatistic viewpoint, with a special emphasis on child-technology and child-voice-assistant engagements, and it also challenges some popular notions in the literature. These notions include descriptive ‘as if’ parallels (e.g., child behaves ‘as if’ Alexa was a friend), or normative assumptions that human-human engagements are generally superior to human-technology engagements. Instead, the article reviews different examples from the literature suggesting the nature of anthropomorphism may change as humans’ experiential understandings of humanness change, and this may particularly apply to today’s children as their social cognition develops in interaction with technological entities which are increasingly characterized by unprecedented combinations of human and non-human qualities.

I Am Looking for Your Mind: Pupil Dilation Predicts Individual Differences in Sensitivity to Hints of Human-Likeness in Robot Behavior

The presence of artificial agents in our everyday lives is continuously increasing. Hence, the question of how human social cognition mechanisms are activated in interactions with artificial agents, such as humanoid robots, is frequently being asked. One interesting question is whether humans perceive humanoid robots as mere artifacts (interpreting their behavior with reference to their function, thereby adopting the design stance) or as intentional agents (interpreting their behavior with reference to mental states, thereby adopting the intentional stance). Due to their humanlike appearance, humanoid robots might be capable of evoking the intentional stance. On the other hand, the knowledge that humanoid robots are only artifacts should call for adopting the design stance. Thus, observing a humanoid robot might evoke a cognitive conflict between the natural tendency of adopting the intentional stance and the knowledge about the actual nature of robots, which should elicit the design stance. In the present study, we investigated the cognitive conflict hypothesis by measuring participants’ pupil dilation during the completion of the InStance Test. Prior to each pupillary recording, participants were instructed to observe the humanoid robot iCub behaving in two different ways (either machine-like or humanlike behavior). Results showed that pupil dilation and response time patterns were predictive of individual biases in the adoption of the intentional or design stance in the IST. These results may suggest individual differences in mental effort and cognitive flexibility in reading and interpreting the behavior of an artificial agent.

Anthropomorphic Strategies Promote Wildlife Conservation through Empathy: The Moderation Role of the Public Epidemic Situation

The global illegal wildlife trade directly threatens biodiversity and leads to disease outbreaks and epidemics. In order to avoid the loss of endangered species and ensure public health security, it is necessary to intervene in illegal wildlife trade and promote public awareness of the need for wildlife conservation. Anthropomorphism is a basic and common psychological process in humans that plays a crucial role in determining how a person interacts with other non-human agents. Previous research indicates that anthropomorphizing nature entities through metaphors could increase individual behavioral intention of wildlife conservation. However, relatively little is known about the mechanism by which anthropomorphism influences behavioral intention and whether social context affects the effect of anthropomorphism. This research investigated the impact of negative emotions associated with a pandemic situation on the effectiveness of anthropomorphic strategies for wildlife conservation across two experimental studies. Experiment 1 recruited 245 college students online and asked them to read a combination of texts and pictures as anthropomorphic materials. The results indicated that anthropomorphic materials could increase participants’ empathy and decrease their wildlife product consumption intention. Experiment 2 recruited 140 college students online and they were required to read the same materials as experiment 1 after watching a video related to epidemics. The results showed that the effect of wildlife anthropomorphization vanished if participants’ negative emotion was aroused by the video. The present research provides experimental evidence that anthropomorphic strategies would be useful for boosting public support for wildlife conservation. However, policymakers and conservation organizations must be careful about the negative effects of the pandemic context, as the negative emotions produced by it seems to weaken the effectiveness of anthropomorphic strategies.

Anthropomorphism in comparative affective science: Advocating a mindful approach

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human-like capacities and traits to non-human entities. Anthropomorphism is ubiquitous in everyday life and in scientific domains, operating both implicitly and explicitly as a function of the human lens through which we view the world. A rich history of work in psychology, animal behavior, cognitive science, and philosophy has highlighted the negative and, to a lesser degree, the positive implications of anthropomorphism. In this article, we aim to provide a nuanced perspective of how anthropomorphism impacts the work of comparative affective science. Specifically, we discuss three domains of empirical inquiry in which lessons can be drawn about the benefits and pitfalls of anthropomorphism: responses to death, inequity aversion, and prosocial behavior. On balance, we advocate a mindful approach to anthropomorphizing in comparative affective science, and comparative science more generally.

Optimus Primed: Media Cultivation of Robot Mental Models and Social Judgments

Media influence people's perceptions of reality broadly and of technology in particular. Robot villains and heroes-from Ultron to Wall-E-have been shown to serve a specific cultivation function, shaping people's perceptions of those embodied social technologies, especially when individuals do not have direct experience with them. To date, however, little is understood about the nature of the conceptions people hold for what robots are, how they work, and how they may function in society, as well as the media antecedents and relational effects of those cognitive structures. This study takes a step toward bridging that gap by exploring relationships among individuals' recall of robot characters from popular media, their mental models for actual robots, and social evaluations of an actual robot. Findings indicate that mental models consist of a small set of common and tightly linked components (beyond which there is a good deal of individual difference), but robot character recall and evaluation have little association with whether people hold any of those components. Instead, data are interpreted to suggest that cumulative sympathetic evaluations of robot media characters may form heuristics that are primed by and engaged in social evaluations of actual robots, while technical content in mental models is associated with a more utilitarian approach to actual robots.

Determinants of object choice and object attachment: Compensatory consumption in compulsive buying-shopping disorder and hoarding disorder

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Individuals who meet criteria for compulsive buying-shopping disorder (i.e., acquiring problems only) or hoarding disorder (i.e., acquiring and discarding problems) may acquire possessions to compensate for unmet belonging needs, but may do so in different ways. Those with compulsive buying-shopping disorder may acquire objects that they believe will relieve the distress associated with unmet belonging needs (e.g., objects that distract or comfort), whereas those with hoarding disorder may acquire objects that they believe achieve belonging needs (e.g., objects that have interpersonal connotations). Accordingly, this study examined whether a belongingness threat would drive individuals who excessively acquire possessions to choose a human-like object (person-shaped tea holder) or a comfort item (box of chamomile tea).

METHODS

One hundred seventy-five participants (57 self-reported excessive acquiring only; 118 self-reported excessive acquiring and difficulty discarding) recalled a time when they either felt supported or unsupported by a significant other before choosing an object to take home with them. Participants rated how anthropomorphic and comforting the objects were as well as how attached they became to their chosen object.

RESULTS

Unsupported individuals were more likely to acquire the comfort item than supported individuals; however, individuals with both acquiring and discarding problems were more likely to acquire the human-like item than those with an acquiring problem only. Comfort and anthropomorphism ratings predicted object choice and attachment.

DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION

The current findings extend the Compensatory Consumer Behavior Model to include what factors determine strategy choice and object attachment.