Eric J. Vanman
Papers
5
Total Citations
464
H-Index
5
About
Eric J. Vanman is a social psychologist whose research sits at the fascinating intersection of human emotion, intergroup relations, and social robotics. He has made significant contributions to understanding how humans perceive and emotionally respond to robots and other artificial agents, particularly as these technologies become increasingly embedded in everyday life. Vanman's most cited work includes a landmark 2006 study on machine learning techniques for affect recognition in human-robot interaction, which has accumulated over 313 citations and helped establish foundational methodologies in the field. His subsequent research has explored the psychological and moral dimensions of human-robot relations, including how children assign moral worth to robots versus live agents, and how people experience fear and empathy toward human-like entities — work that challenges roboticists' assumptions about anthropomorphism and pro-sociality. Through papers such as "'Danger, Will Robinson!' The Challenges of Social Robots for Intergroup Relations" (74 citations), Vanman has championed collaboration between social psychologists and engineers, highlighting critical social dynamics that purely technical approaches overlook. His ongoing agenda, reflected in work on artificial social intelligence, positions him as a compelling voice urging researchers to better understand — and design for — the deeply human side of human-robot communication.
Research Focus
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