Individual differences and young children's engagement with a social robot

Abstract

Social robots are being introduced in preschool to support early learning. However, little is known about the relationship between young children’s individual differences and their engagement with social robots. In the present study, English-speaking children ( n = 66; M age = 4.5, range = 2.7-5.6 years) completed a Simon Says and Question and Answer activity with a social robot and their behavioural engagement, positive emotional engagement, and verbal engagement (vocalisations) were measured. Child temperament (surgency, negative affect, and effortful control) and social and generalised anxiety were measured using parent reports. During the child-robot interactions, children engaged with the social robot overall, with greater verbal engagement for children with higher levels of surgency. In contrast, positive emotional engagement was lower for children with higher generalised anxiety. The findings suggest that aspects of children’s individual differences are important and should be considered when using social robots at preschool to support young learners. • Child generalised anxiety was related to positive emotional engagement with a social robot. • Child surgency was related to verbal engagement with a social robot. • Individual differences should be considered when introducing social robots to young children at preschool.