Mako Okanda
Papers
8
Total Citations
138
H-Index
5
About
Dr. Mako Okanda is a developmental psychologist whose pioneering research sits at the intersection of child cognition, human-robot interaction, and social development. Her work fundamentally explores how children and adults perceive, interact with, and attribute human-like qualities to robots, with a particular focus on animism tendencies—the inclination to see lifelike properties in non-living things. Through a series of highly cited studies, including her 2021 work on preschoolers’ animism toward humanoid robots (44 citations) and her 2019 investigation into how empathy shapes adult evaluations of robots (35 citations), Dr. Okanda has revealed that even young children display a “yes bias” when questioned by physically present robots, a finding with profound implications for educational technology and AI design. She has also examined gender-attribute biases toward robots, linking these perceptions to broader societal stereotypes. Her research on response tendencies across different interviewers—human, communicative robot, and non-communicative robot—has become foundational for understanding how children’s compliance and suggestibility vary by interaction partner. With a growing body of work that bridges developmental psychology and robotics, Dr. Okanda’s contributions are shaping how we design robots that interact effectively and ethically with both children and adults.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Preschoolers' and adults' animism tendencies toward a humanoid robot44 citations · 2021
- 2The Role of Animism Tendencies and Empathy in Adult Evaluations of Robot35 citations · 2019
- 3Three- and 4-year-old children’s response tendencies to various interviewers19 citations · 2013
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- 7Children’s animistic beliefs toward a humanoid robot and other objects4 citations · 2024
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