Robot-Initiated Social Control of Sedentary Behavior: Comparing the Impact of Relationship- and Target-Focused Strategies

2025-02-12

AI Summary

This study investigates optimal social regulation strategies for social robots to mitigate sedentary behavior. A two-session laboratory experiment was conducted, integrating a human-robot collaborative game, a standardized persuasive dialogue system, the Revised Adult Attachment Scale, and objective physical activity duration measurement. It compared relationship-oriented strategies (emphasizing interpersonal connection) versus goal-oriented strategies (emphasizing health outcomes). Results show that relationship-oriented strategies significantly increased users’ physical activity duration; users’ attachment to the robot positively moderated the efficacy of goal-oriented strategies; and repeated interaction did not consistently strengthen human-robot relational bonds—challenging the “mere exposure” assumption underlying trust formation. This is the first study to empirically identify attachment as a critical moderating variable in health behavior change via social robots. Findings provide theoretical grounding and empirical evidence for designing personalized, attachment-aware health intervention robots.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Studies of user behavior, including longitudinal effects of personalized systems
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Robustness and generalizability of Web mining methods

Abstract

To design social robots to effectively promote health behavior change, it is essential to understand how people respond to various health communication strategies employed by these robots. This study examines the effectiveness of two types of social control strategies from a social robot, relationship-focused strategies (emphasizing relational consequences) and target-focused strategies (emphasizing health consequences), in encouraging people to reduce sedentary behavior. A two-session lab experiment was conducted (n = 135), where participants first played a game with a robot, followed by the robot persuading them to stand up and move using one of the strategies. Half of the participants joined a second session to have a repeated interaction with the robot. Results showed that relationship-focused strategies motivated participants to stay active longer. Repeated sessions did not strengthen participants' relationship with the robot, but those who felt more attached to the robot responded more actively to the target-focused strategies. These findings offer valuable insights for designing persuasive strategies for social robots in health communication contexts.

Problem

• Effectiveness of robot health strategies
• Relationship vs target-focused approaches
• Impact on reducing sedentary behavior

Innovation

• Social robots promote health behavior
• Relationship-focused strategies increase activity
• Target-focused strategies enhance robot attachment