When in Rome: the role of culture & context in adherence to robot recommendations

  • Authors:

  • Lin Wang;Pei-Luen Patrick Rau;Vanessa Evers;Benjamin Krisper Robinson;Pamela Hinds

  • Affiliations:

  • Tsinghua University, Beijing, China;Tsinghua University, Beijing, China;University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA;Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 5th ACM/IEEE international conference on Human-robot interaction
  • Year:
  • 2010

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.01

Visualization

Abstract

In this study, we sought to clarify the effects of users' cultural background and cultural context on human-robot team collaboration by investigating attitudes toward and the extent to which people changed their decisions based on the recommendations of a robot collaborator. We report the results of a 2×2 experiment with nationality (Chinese vs. US) and communication style (implicit vs. explicit) as dimensions. The results confirm expectations that when robots behave in more culturally normative ways, subjects are more likely to heed their recommendations. Specifically, subjects with a Chinese vs. a US cultural background changed their decisions more when collaborating with robots that communicated implicitly vs. explicitly. We also found evidence that Chinese subjects were more negative in their attitude to robots and, as a result, relied less on the robot's advice. These findings suggest that cultural values affect responses to robots in collaborative situations and reinforce the importance of culturally sensitive design in HRI.