Matthew G. Chin

Anthropomorphism of Robotic Forms: A Response to Affordances?

Participants rated robotic forms on three scales: perceived aggression, intelligence, and animation. The robot bodies varied along five dimensions: Types of edges (beveled or squared), method of movement (wheels, legs, spider legs, or treads), number of movement generators (2 or 4), body position (upright or down), and presence of arms (present or absent). Across ratings, movement method and presence of arms were the strongest predictors of participant perceptions. Legs and arms, both human characteristics, were associated with more positive attributions. Minimal affective characteristics, as displayed by the body design, are important in user perceptions of use and ability.

Go, dog, go: maze training AIBO vs. a live dog, an exploratory study

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in interaction and attribution when participants directed either a robotic dog (AIBO) or a live dog. Twenty-nine participants (20 female, 9 male) directed one of the two entities, a live dog or AIBO, through a complex maze from a remote location by providing voice commands. Participants were given identical feedback regarding the entitys performance during the maze task. While directing the dog or AIBO through the maze, participants rated their own moods. Following the maze task, participants rated the dog or AIBO on a variety of attributes. Vocal data were analyzed for content and fundamental frequency. Results indicate that although vocal content and mood ratings did not differ when participants interacted with the dog versus AIBO, fundamental frequency was higher when participants talked to the dog rather than the AIBO. The dog and AIBO were also rated differently on several attributes after the maze task. Overall, the results suggest that human responses during interactions with live and robotic animals can be superficially similar, yet distinctly different when examined at a deeper level.

Development of the Attitudes Toward Vegetarians Scale

Abstract Studies have explored the motivations behind the decision to become vegetarian, and have explored the well being of vegetarians. However, little research has focused on the social psychological and interpersonal aspects of vegetarianism. The focus of this study was to develop a scale designed to measure attitudes toward vegetarians (ATVS). This scale measures a one-factor construct with adequate internal consistency. The ATVS correlated significantly with the construct of authoritarianism, and, as expected, the ATVS did not correlate significantly with social desirability. In addition, attitudes toward vegetarians were found to be generally positive. The positive attitudes toward vegetarians may be the result of using a college student population that was overwhelmingly female.

Don't Be Cruel: Assessing Beliefs About Punishments for Crimes Against Animals

ABSTRACT Hypothetical scenarios depicting an act of animal abuse were given to 438 participants who rated the appropriateness of eight types of punishments. The predictive value of sex of participant, animal type, crime type (acute abuse or neglect), crime outcome (victim lives or dies), and sex of perpetrator for ratings of appropriate punishments was evaluated using a canonical correlation analysis. Sex of participant and animal type emerged as the two strongest predictors, suggesting participants tend to concentrate on the victim rather than the crime, and then use their own beliefs about that specific animal to make a decision regarding punishment. Among the various punishment types, participants placed the greatest importance on restricting the perpetrators ability to adopt an animal in the future, rather than recommending rehabilitative measures. Also, mandatory counseling, a monetary fine, and jail time were desired. Exploratory analyses showed that early experience on a farm moderates the gender effect such that females who lived on a farm rated harsher punishments as more appropriate, whereas males who lived on a farm rated more lenient punishments as more appropriate.

Developing and Anthropomorphic Tendencies Scale

A 208-item scale was developed to measure self-reported anthropomorphic tendencies during interactions with various non-human entities. The potential targets of anthropomorphism included technology-laden machines such as computers, other objects such as backpacks, living things such as houseplants, and abstract entities such as a god or higher power. Scale items assessed the degree to which participants agreed with statements regarding the perceived attributes of the entities, speech directed toward the entities and the treatment of the entities. A factor analysis suggested that the scale measures four independent types of anthropomorphism: “extreme” anthropomorphic tendencies, anthropomorphism of a god or higher power, anthropomorphism of pets, and “negative” anthropomorphism. Further analyses indicated that anthropomorphic tendencies were self-reported when pertaining to pets and a god or higher power. However, participants tended not to self-report inappropriate “negativeâ” anthropomorphism toward computers, cars, microwaves, etc. These disparate findings appear to be due to social desirability of anthropomorphism.

Taking Emergency Warnings Seriously

The purpose of this research was to explore perceptions of emergency alert systems used by universities. After an averted crisis at the University of Central Florida, students were surveyed about how the event changed their perception of the university’s emergency alert system. Students retrospectively rated themselves as not taking the emergency alert system seriously, but after the campus-wide lockdown on March 18th, 2013, students appeared to have a more favorable perception of the service overall. Females were more interested in safety than males. Several personality traits were also related to safety concerns: participants high in Agreeableness take the emergency alert system more seriously and participants high in Neuroticism questioned safety protocol more often. Those who scored high on Locus of Control want to be able to take action towards how the emergency alert system could affect them. Students would not admit that they failed to take the alert system seriously and they also claimed that other students took the system even less seriously than themselves. Future research should continue to explore users’ preferences in order to determine what makes a warning appear more serious than others, as well as investigate university alert systems in areas more susceptible to natural disasters or with a high crime rate.

Responsiveness and perceived intelligence as predictors of speech addressed to cats

Abstract Speech addressed to a cat was examined to test whether the use of child-directed language (CDL) with a companion animal is related to perceived intelligence of a listener and/or listener responsiveness. Fifty-one undergraduates briefly entertained a cat using a toy, and the vast majority of these participants spoke to the animal. The language used was similar to CDL, and two aspects of this language (number of questions and attribution of thoughts to the animal) were positively related to ratings of the animals intelligence. The cats responsiveness, as measured by time spent in proximity of the participant during the interaction, was not strongly correlated with measures of speech use. The results suggest that speech used with companion animals follows a model in which the human first perceives a social interaction, and therefore uses speech. This speech is then modified, based on the perceived comprehension of the listener, regardless of who this listener may be.

An Examination of the Impact of Synthetic Speech on Unattended Recall in a Dichotic Listening Task

Synthetic speech, which is generated by a computer, is widely used in both everyday situations (e.g. GPS devices; weather alerts) and the military (e.g. aviation). Synthetic speech is not identical to spoken speech, as it has a different pacing and varying pronunciations. Participants engaged in a Dichotic Listening Task in which they actively repeated information that was being presented in one ear, while ignoring their other (unattended) ear. The task was adapted and used both synthetic and spoken speech in the attended and unattended ears. It was found that when the unattended information was Spoken participants were more likely to hear an alert word (“fire”) and familiar character names when engaging in a difficult task. When unattended information was in the form of Synthetic Speech less of these low-threshold words were reported by the participants. This research has important implications for the development and use of synthetic speech in high workload situations, and in alerts.

Perceptions of Humans Wearing Technology

The current study is an examination of how using “wearable technology” may impact the impressions formed by others about the technology user. Previous research has examined how technological devices that are made to be more humanlike may be perceived, yet little research has investigated the perceptions of humans who are made more like technological devices through the augmentation of their senses or abilities. Participants viewed faces of male and female models either wearing no external devices, wearing non-technological articles, wearing consumer electronic devices, or scientific/military devices (eye trackers). Overall, models were viewed less favorably when wearing technology, but the attributions were a complex interaction of the raters comfort with technology, the sex of the model, and the particular attribute being examined. Wearable technology may augment cognitive abilities, but interfere with interpersonal relations.

Size Does Matter: Automobile “Facial” Features Predict Consumer Attitudes

This study further examines the issue of whether perception of automobile “faces” can be predicted based on the way in which people process human faces. Specifically, this work examined whether consumer ratings are correlated with the relative size of features on the front end of an automobile. Participants rated twenty-three cars on a variety of consumer attributes. Greater distance between headlights, like distance between human eyes, predicted positive ratings on several consumer attitudes. Results are consistent with the idea that processes used for perception of faces are involved in the attributions made for artifacts displaying minimal features.