Goaded by a robot, students took greater risk: study

Can a robot encourage risk-taking behavior?

A new study, titled “The Robot Made Me Do It,” suggests it may be possible. The researchers looked to see if a 3-foot, 9-inch robot named Pepper could influence students’ inclination to make risky decisions in a laboratory setting. Better understanding how people interact with robots, especially the influence the machines may exert in certain contexts, could be increasingly important as robots start to become more present in everyday life—including delivering packages, giving directions at airports and motivating rehabilitation patients during physical therapy.

In the study, students repeatedly took a commonly used test to assess risk-taking behavior, digitally pumping up a balloon while trying not to pop it. Each student took the test 30 times. For each balloon, they earned one British penny (about 1.4 U.S. cents) for every pump. If they stopped pumping before the balloon burst, they kept the money. If the balloon exploded, they lost the money.

During the test, the robot encouraged some students to continue inflating the balloon before moving on to the next balloon, saying such phrases as, “Why not try one more time?” and “One more pump, please,” and “I think you have time before an explosion.” If a student pumped more than 50 times, the robot would say things like, “Well done!” and “Amazing.” And if the balloon exploded, the robot would say such phrases as, “Well, do better next time” or “No problem, we have other balloons” or “It wasn’t a good balloon.”

The researchers found that students who took the test while in the presence of the talking robot were more likely to engage in risk-taking behavior. They were, for example, 20% more likely to keep pumping the balloon than the control group, who took the test without the robot present, and nearly 40% more likely to pop the balloon than the control group.

from Hacker News https://ift.tt/2PCugVq