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.