The morality of abusing a robot
It is not uncommon for humans to exhibit abusive behaviour towards robots. This study compares how abusive behaviour towards a human is perceived differently in comparison with identical behaviour towards a robot. We showed participants 16 video clips of unparalleled quality that depicted different...
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De Gruyter
2020-06-01
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Series: | Paladyn: Journal of Behavioral Robotics |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/pjbr-2020-0017 |
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doaj-337f52916de943ddb98a95891ee20c582021-10-02T19:03:30ZengDe GruyterPaladyn: Journal of Behavioral Robotics2081-48362020-06-0111127128310.1515/pjbr-2020-0017pjbr-2020-0017The morality of abusing a robotBartneck Christoph0Keijsers Merel1HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, 8140 Christchurch, New ZealandHIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, 8140 Christchurch, New ZealandIt is not uncommon for humans to exhibit abusive behaviour towards robots. This study compares how abusive behaviour towards a human is perceived differently in comparison with identical behaviour towards a robot. We showed participants 16 video clips of unparalleled quality that depicted different levels of violence and abuse. For each video, we asked participants to rate the moral acceptability of the action, the violence depicted, the intention to harm, and how abusive the action was. The results indicate no significant difference in the perceived morality of the actions shown in the videos across the two victim agents. When the agents started to fight back, their reactive aggressive behaviour was rated differently. Humans fighting back were seen as less immoral compared with robots fighting back. A mediation analysis showed that this was predominately due to participants perceiving the robot’s response as more abusive than the human’s response.https://doi.org/10.1515/pjbr-2020-0017abuserobotshumanmoralityperception |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Bartneck Christoph Keijsers Merel |
spellingShingle |
Bartneck Christoph Keijsers Merel The morality of abusing a robot Paladyn: Journal of Behavioral Robotics abuse robots human morality perception |
author_facet |
Bartneck Christoph Keijsers Merel |
author_sort |
Bartneck Christoph |
title |
The morality of abusing a robot |
title_short |
The morality of abusing a robot |
title_full |
The morality of abusing a robot |
title_fullStr |
The morality of abusing a robot |
title_full_unstemmed |
The morality of abusing a robot |
title_sort |
morality of abusing a robot |
publisher |
De Gruyter |
series |
Paladyn: Journal of Behavioral Robotics |
issn |
2081-4836 |
publishDate |
2020-06-01 |
description |
It is not uncommon for humans to exhibit abusive behaviour towards robots. This study compares how abusive behaviour towards a human is perceived differently in comparison with identical behaviour towards a robot. We showed participants 16 video clips of unparalleled quality that depicted different levels of violence and abuse. For each video, we asked participants to rate the moral acceptability of the action, the violence depicted, the intention to harm, and how abusive the action was. The results indicate no significant difference in the perceived morality of the actions shown in the videos across the two victim agents. When the agents started to fight back, their reactive aggressive behaviour was rated differently. Humans fighting back were seen as less immoral compared with robots fighting back. A mediation analysis showed that this was predominately due to participants perceiving the robot’s response as more abusive than the human’s response. |
topic |
abuse robots human morality perception |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1515/pjbr-2020-0017 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT bartneckchristoph themoralityofabusingarobot AT keijsersmerel themoralityofabusingarobot AT bartneckchristoph moralityofabusingarobot AT keijsersmerel moralityofabusingarobot |
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