Care Robots in moral dilemmas

The study focuses on the acceptance of artificial moral agents in care settings. More specifically, we examine how moral decisions made by robots are evaluated. Participants will read four care dilemma scenarios, each presenting a robot with two options. For each scenario, participants will rate: (1) the moral appropriateness of the robot's decision, (2) how much blame the robot deserves for its decision and (3) how much they trust the robot. Furthermore, we will investigate several variables that might affect how the robot's decisions are judged. These variables include characteristics of the robot and characteristics of the participants. Among the former are the following: 'gender' of the robot (based on its physical appearance) as well as ascribed warmth, morality/sociability, competence and gender. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 'female' vs. 'male' robot. They will be shown a brief AI-generated video of either the 'female' or 'male' robot. Both robots are identical with regard to key features (e.g., size, color scheme, similarity to humans, mobility etc.) and perform the same action in the video. Only a few modifications were made to the body shape (e.g., waist-to-hip ratio, chest area) to make the robot appear more 'feminine' or 'masculine.' Ascribed characteristics (warmth, competence etc.) are assessed using standardized questionnaires. Person variables include attitudes towards robots and technology, personality traits (Need for cognition, Dark Factor of personality), political orientation, religiosity, age, and gender.