Robots Influencing Children’s Nature

A recent study suggested that future generation, especially children are more likely to be influenced by robots. As found in a research by Professor in Robotics Tony Belpaeme, University of Plymouth, that “People often consider the opinions of others and we've known for a long time that as it is hard to resist them from taking over views and opinions of people around us. We know this as conformity. But as robots will soon be found in the home and the workplace, we were wondering if people would adhere to robots.”

The research, conducted at the University of Plymouth, found that, adults do not conform to what the robots are saying. But when we did the experiment with children, they did. It shows children can perhaps have more of an affinity with robots than adults, which does pose the question: what if robots were to suggest, for example, what to eat or whom to respect? The conclusion therefore was that children increasingly bestowed to social pressure expended by robots; however, adults resisted being influenced by our robots." Perhaps next we’ll discover that robots find it easier to take candy from babies than grown-ups. On the other part it is also important to consider that children are influenced by everything in their environment – robots, children, adults – which would follow the literature on social influence in children. As we already know those insensate objects, cartoon characters, talking toys, and other things around that children can personify, can affect decision-making in children.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.rt.com/news/436106-robots-influence-children-research/