The Impact of Social Norm Violations on Participants’ Perception of and Trust in a Robot during a Competitive Game Scenario

This study aimed to investigate the effects of norm-violating behaviour on human perception and attitudes towards robots. Specifically, we examined the impact of a robot performing social norm violations in the context of a competitive scavenger hunt game. During the game, the robot was programmed to engage in predefined behaviours considered as social norm violations, including both injunctive and descriptive norm violations (e.g., cheating, and making loud noises). The study used an experimental and control group, with participants either exposed to norm-violating behaviour or not, respectively. The results indicated that participants in the experimental group had a strong awareness of the norm-violating behaviour according to self-reported assessments. Additionally, post-questionnaire results revealed a significant difference in trust, overall enjoyment, and discomfort between the two groups. These findings show that in our study, participants expected robots to abide by both types of social norms (i.e., injunctive and descriptive) and that violations of them negatively impacted participants’ perceptions and attitudes towards robots. This further emphasizes the importance of considering social norms in the design and programming of robots for human-robot interactions.

I. Introduction

The integration of robots in human society has rapidly increased in recent years, with applications in a wide range of fields such as healthcare, education, and service industries. However, as robots become increasingly present in human environments, it is crucial to understand how human attitudes and perceptions towards them are shaped. An essential factor that impacts the acceptability of robots is the influence of social norms in human-robot interactions (HRI) [1]. In the book Social Norms [2], Christine Horne defines social norms as shared expectations for behaviour that emerge within a group or society [3]. She argues that social norms are a fundamental aspect of social organization and shape individual behaviour and interactions. Examples of such expectations would be to not litter in public, respect queues by not cutting in line, and to not use property that belongs to others without permission.