The effects of exclusion by a robot on self-esteem and prosocial behaviour.

Abstract

There is extensive literature dedicated to investigating the effects of exclusion on interpersonal behaviours and emotions. Standard exclusion procedures typically involve, face to face, imagined and anticipated exclusion. Although more recently, research has begun to focus on the effects of rejection through technology (for example, being ignored by peers over the internet). To extend this emerging trend of research, the current thesis looked at exclusion by technology in the form of a Baxter robot. The procedure involved having participants play a game of Connect4 with “Baxter” and 1 in 3 being they were boring to play with, prosocial behaviour and self-esteem was subsequently measured. Anthropomorphism was also captured as a potential moderator for exclusion. It was predicted that, following rejection, people would be less likely to volunteer and have lower self-esteem compared with accept and control conditions with outcomes exaggerated for those high in the tendency to anthropomorphise. As hypothesised self-esteem decreased following exclusion however, there was no significant effect of pro-social behaviour and anthropomorphism. Results and implications are discussed further.