Data_Sheet_1_Mind Perception of Robots Varies With Their Economic Versus Social Function.docx

While robots were traditionally built to achieve economic efficiency and financial profits, their roles are likely to change in the future with the aim to provide social support and companionship. In this research, we examined whether the robot’s proposed function (social vs. economic) impacts judgments of mind and moral treatment. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrated that robots with social function were perceived to possess greater ability for emotional experience, but not cognition, compared to those with economic function and whose function was not mentioned explicitly. Study 2 replicated this finding and further showed that low economic value reduced ascriptions of cognitive capacity, whereas high social value resulted in increased emotion perception. In Study 3, robots with high social value were more likely to be afforded protection from harm, and such effect was related to levels of ascribed emotional experience. Together, the findings demonstrate a dissociation between function type (social vs. economic) and ascribed mind (emotion vs. cognition). In addition, the two types of functions exert asymmetric influences on the moral treatment of robots. Theoretical and practical implications for the field of social psychology and human-computer interaction are discussed.

传统上，机器人的设计与制造均以实现经济效率与财务收益为核心目标，但其未来角色或将发生转变，转而以提供社会支持与陪伴为宗旨。本研究旨在探讨机器人的预设功能（社会型vs经济型）是否会影响人们对其心智属性与道德对待方式的评判。研究1a与1b证实，相较于仅具备经济型功能或未明确说明其功能的机器人，被赋予社会功能的机器人被感知拥有更强的情感体验能力，但认知能力并无显著差异。研究2重复了上述研究发现，并进一步揭示：较低的经济价值会降低对机器人认知能力的归因，而较高的社会价值则会提升对其情感体验的感知程度。在研究3中，具备高社会价值的机器人更易被给予免受伤害的保护待遇，且该效应与被归因的情感体验水平相关。综上，本研究结果表明，功能类型（社会型vs经济型）与被归因的心智属性（情感vs认知）之间存在分离效应。此外，两类功能对机器人的道德对待方式产生了不对称的影响。本文最后讨论了该研究对社会心理学（Social Psychology）与人机交互（Human-Computer Interaction）领域的理论与实践启示。