How people use theory of mind to explain robot behavior

Many emerging applications of robotic technology involve humans and robots in assistive, pedagogical, and collaborative interactions. In these circumstances, people tend to use their ‘theory of mind’ to ascribe mental states and social-moral standing to robots, just as they do to humans. However, the conditions and functional benefits of this theory of mind in human-robot interactions (HRI) are currently unknown, and detailed insights into the scope and limits of people’s humanlike treatment of robots are needed. The present research uses the study of behavior explanations —a core component of human social cognition— as a novel technique for examining people’s readiness to infer mental states from robot behavior and to manage a robot’s social standing. The proposed studies build on faculty sponsor Bertram Malle’s folk’s theory of behavior explanations, which subtly reveals people’s inferences of mental states and examines the implicit attitudes people have towards robots. Using my expertise in HRI, including survey, laboratory, and rarely used longitudinal methods, I will examine how people explain robots’ behaviors and what such explanations reveal about the cognitive and social underpinnings of human-robot relations. This research aims to inform design requirements for robotic systems in order to optimize social interactions between robots and humans.