Corey Cusimano

Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University

Papers

Total Citations

388

H-Index

About

Corey Cusimano is a cognitive and social psychologist whose research sits at the intersection of moral cognition and human-robot interaction (HRI). His work investigates how ordinary people apply moral norms and judgments to both human and robotic agents, addressing fundamental questions about the scope and flexibility of human moral reasoning as technology becomes increasingly embedded in social life. Cusimano's most influential contribution, "Sacrifice One For the Good of Many?" (2015), garnered 238 citations and pioneered systematic comparison of moral judgments directed at human versus robot agents — a foundational step for researchers and engineers designing socially integrated robots. His follow-up work on moral judgments of robot agents (2016, 77 citations) further clarified how people evaluate robots performing norm-regulated roles such as caregiving. Complementing this, his research on visual perspective-taking in HRI demonstrated that specific nonverbal robot behaviors can spontaneously trigger perspective-taking in humans, revealing surprising depth in how people mentally represent robotic minds. With his 2024 return to classic moral dilemmas, Cusimano continues refining our understanding of how human moral intuitions adapt to non-human agents, making his scholarship essential reading for anyone studying AI ethics, social robotics, or the cognitive foundations of moral judgment.