Maria Neufeld

Papers

Total Citations

166

H-Index

About

Maria Neufeld is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of social robotics and human-robot interaction, with a primary focus on how social identity and group dynamics shape our perceptions of machines. Her work investigates the psychological mechanisms that drive people to evaluate and anthropomorphize robots, revealing that even minimal group categorization—such as assigning a robot to an “in-group” or “out-group”—can profoundly influence human responses. In her landmark study, “When a Robot’s Group Membership Matters” (2013, 126 citations), Neufeld demonstrated that people exhibit clear biases toward robots perceived as belonging to their own social group, mirroring classic intergroup dynamics from social psychology. Her earlier foundational work, “Minimal Group - Maximal Effect? Evaluation and Anthropomorphization of the Humanoid Robot NAO” (2011, 40 citations), established the NAO robot as a key platform for studying these effects. By bridging social identity theory with robotics, Neufeld has provided critical insights into designing more socially acceptable and effective robotic systems. Her research has been widely cited in both psychology and engineering communities, and she is recognized for advancing our understanding of how human social biases extend into the realm of artificial agents.