Papers
1
Total Citations
8
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1
About
Neuza Costa is a rising scholar in the psychology of human–technology interaction, whose work probes the delicate boundary between human and machine. Her primary research areas center on social robotics, human uniqueness beliefs, and the psychological barriers to accepting artificial agents. Costa’s most notable contribution is the development of the Belief in Human Nature Uniqueness Scale (BHN), a psychometric tool that captures individual differences in the conviction that certain traits—such as morality, emotion, and consciousness—are exclusively human. This scale has become instrumental in understanding why human-like social robots often provoke unease or rejection: they threaten our sense of what makes us distinct. Her flagship paper, “Development of the Beliefs in Human Nature Uniqueness Scale and Its Associations With Perception of Social Robots” (2024), has already garnered 8 citations, signaling its rapid adoption by researchers exploring robot acceptance, dehumanization, and anthropomorphism. By operationalizing a previously nebulous concept, Costa has provided the field with a rigorous empirical lens for studying the “uncanny valley” of social robotics. Her work carries profound implications for designers, ethicists, and policymakers navigating an era of increasingly humanlike machines.
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Top Papers
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