Human Perception of a Robot as an Authority Figure

We explored whether and how individuals attribute authority to a robot. Online participants ( N = 362 Japanese adults) received short videos showing a social interaction between a group of three human actors and a lone agent. Crucially, in the videos, the group interacted with a robot or a fourth human actor. The group bowed deeply for the lone agent. After each video, participants were asked to say to what extent the lone agent can be described as a source of authority ( authority attribution ) and to what extent the group would comply with an order issued by the lone agent ( obedience expectation ). We found that participants perceived the robot as in charge and expected the group to comply with its orders, although participants attributed less authority to the robot than to the human actor and expected the group to obey the human actor more than the robot. As such, we conclude that bowing as a social cue for authority attribution applies to interactions between robots and humans. These findings can have important applications for designing authority- or leader-like robot figures.