Inevitable Psychological Mechanisms Triggered by Robot Appearance: Morality Included?

Abstract

Certain stimuli in the environment reliably, and perhaps inevitably, trigger human cognitive and behavioral responses. We suggest that the presence of such “trigger stimuli” in modern robots can have disconcerting consequences. We provide one new example of such consequences: a reversal of a pattern of moral judgments people make about robots, depending on whether they view a “mechanical” or a “humanoid” robot.