Robots Confronting Sexism in Human-Robot Groups

Sexism is a constant presence in women’s lives, requiring ongoing decisions about if and how to respond. Previous research underscores the importance of allies in confrontations of sexism. We explore how women perceive a social robot that intervenes in sexist encounters. Female participants (n = 60) engaged in a game scenario where a sexist comment was made by a male confederate prompting the robot to intervene in one of three ways: 1. avoidant, 2. argumentative, or 3. morally judgmental. Results showed that exposure to sexist remarks lead to significantly increased negative emotions. Participants rated the perpetrator significantly worse on trust and perceived closeness than the human bystander and the robot who were both on par. The type of intervention had no mitigating effect in the ratings.