Critical consideration of applications of affective robots to mental therapy from psychological and sociological perspectives

Abstract

This paper deals with the application of affective robots to the field of mental therapy, and critically considers problems of these applications by referring to work in psychology and sociology on the mental reaction of humans to computers, social situations on reception of computers, and emotion sensitivity in modern society. Based on these considerations, the paper focuses attention on applications of robots to animal assisted therapy and activity, and narrative therapy, and considers the problems of these applications.