https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4054-0269
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Abstract
Objective
This study sought to experimentally test two potential factors that could affect the consumer acceptance of autonomous robot surgeons: anthropomorphism and mortality salience. The study also investigated the effect of gender and its interaction with anthropomorphism on attitudes toward autonomous robot surgeons.
Design and Main Outcome Measures
A between-subjects experiment with a 2 (anthropomorphism: low vs. high) x 2 (mortality salience: no vs. yes) factorial design was conducted (N = 196). The trust in the autonomous surgical robot and the willingness to undergo autonomous robotic surgery served as the dependent variables.
Results
When death thoughts were not active, the human-likeness of the autonomous surgical robot significantly increased the trust in the robot and the willingness to undergo autonomous robotic surgery. Activating death thoughts did not further increase the positive attitudes toward the higher-anthropomorphic robot, while it significantly increased the trust in and the willingness to be operated on by the lower-anthropomorphic robot, rendering both robots comparable. This study also found that women had less positive attitudes toward the autonomous robot surgeon, regardless of the robot’s human-likeness.
Conclusion
Anthropomorphism and mortality salience can both positively affect the acceptance of autonomous robotic surgery but only in the absence of one another.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Data and code availability
The data that support the findings of this study and the SPSS syntax to reproduce the main results are openly available at https://osf.io/mweju.
Funding
The author reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.