Rick B. van Baaren

Papers

Total Citations

105

H-Index

About

Rick B. van Baaren is a leading social psychologist whose research explores the subtle yet powerful mechanisms of social influence, particularly through mimicry and anthropomorphism. His work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of how non-conscious behavioral mimicry fosters rapport and prosocial behavior, with his seminal papers on this topic amassing over 1,000 citations. Van Baaren’s contributions extend into human-robot interaction, where he investigates moral decision-making toward artificial agents. In his highly cited 2019 study, "Saving the Robot or the Human?" (105 citations), he demonstrated that people are less willing to sacrifice a highly anthropomorphic robot in utilitarian dilemmas, revealing that perceived humanness triggers moral concern. This work bridges social cognition and robotics, raising critical ethical questions for an AI-integrated society. Van Baaren’s research has been published in top-tier journals like *Psychological Science* and *Journal of Experimental Social Psychology*, and his findings are widely applied in marketing, design, and human-computer interaction. For students and researchers, his work offers a compelling lens on how our social instincts extend beyond humans to machines.