Effects of Using Indirect Language by a Robot to Change Human Attitudes

Abstract

The use of indirect language is considered useful for persuading people in human communication. The aim of this research is to determine whether this also occurs within human-robot interaction. Thus, it is hypothesized that indirect language will have greater influence in attitude changes towards a product in comparison to direct language. A seven-point semantic differential scale was employed to measure participants attitude changes towards a product advertised by a Nao Robot using either direct or indirect speech. Results showed no significant differences between the direct and indirect language experimental conditions. This may indicate that in human-robot interaction indirect language may not function similarly as it does in human communication. A larger sample size and improvements in stimuli are suggested for future works.