Attitudes towards emergent autonomous robots
The average ratings of attitudes towards autonomous robotic systems in the 28 European countries were rather positive. The respective mean score was 5.78 (\(SD = 1.93\)) on a nine-point response scale. However, there were some variation between countries. Figure 1 (left panel) summarizes the respective ratings on a \(z\)-standardized scale that is centered at 0, reflecting the average ratings across all European countries. These results highlight that some countries rated robots pronouncedly more positively whereas others held more negative views. In particular, Austrians (\(M = 5.44\), \(SD = 2.02\)) were rather skeptical and had attitude scores of about \(d = -0.18\) below the average rating of the EU-26 (\(t = -3.80\), \(df = 16849\), \(p <.001\)). The respective size of the observed difference might be considered small. However, given that explicit intervention programs designed to influence public opinions typically hover around \(d = 0.22\) [18] the observed difference in attitudes toward robots might be viewed substantial enough to warrant further investigation. Interestingly, the attitudes of German citizens (\(M = 5.85\), \(SD = 1.76\)) fell in line with the average rating among the EU-26 (\(t = 0.71\), \(df = 4263\), \(p =.477\), \(d = 0.01\)). Thus, despite the similar cultural and economic background of Austria and Germany the evaluations of autonomous robotic systems differed markedly.
Attitudes towards digital technologies
To evaluate whether Austrians might have more reservations regarding modern technologies in general, Fig. 1 (right panels) also summarizes the expected impact of digital technologies on respondent’s lives. However, no substantial differences were found for Austria (\(M = 5.79\), \(SD = 1.83\)) or Germany (\(M = 5.75\), \(SD = 1.66\)). The respective effect sizes were close to 0. In both countries, respective scores did not differ meaningfully from the average ratings in the other European countries (\(t = 0.01\), \(df = 4909\), \(p =.990\), \(d = 0.00\), and, \(t = -1.89\), \(df = 1114\), \(p =.060\), \(d = -0.03\)). Thus, the observed skeptical views on robotic systems in Austria cannot be accounted for by a more negative view on modern technologies in general.
Cohort effects in attitudes towards robots
Exploratory analyses revealed a cohort effect that partially explained the different attitude ratings for Austria (see Fig. 2). To this end, the attitude ratings were regressed on two dummy-coded indicators representing Austria or Germany (as compared to the remaining countries), the respondents’ age (in years), the respective interactions, and several covariates (i.e., sex, years in education, job type). The respective results (see supplement material) showed that attitudes toward autonomous robots were rather similar for Germany and other European countries and did not vary substantially with the age of the respondents. In contrast, for Austria a pronounced decline in attitude ratings beginning at about age 40 was observed (see Fig. 2). Particularly older age cohorts evaluated emergent automation significantly (\(p <.05\)) more negatively as compared to younger cohorts. For example, mean attitudes did not differ substantially between Austria and the other European countries at age 30 year (\(d = -0.06\)). However, respective differences gradually increased to \(d = -0.18\) at age 50 years and \(d = -0.31\) at age 70 years.
Experiences with robots
About 14% of the Europeans reported having used or are currently using a robot at home, the workplace, or elsewhere. Again, substantial variations between the different countries were observed (see Fig. 3). In Germany, significantly fewer respondents (11%) indicated experience with robots as compared to the EU-26 (\(t = -5.17\), \(df = 17201\), \(p <.001\)). In contrast, experiences with robots were more prevalent (\(t = 3.18\), \(df = 26718\), \(p =.001\)) among Austrian respondents (20%). As expected, attitudes towards robots were systematically related to respondents’ experiences with robots. Those who reported as having used a robot in the past also reported significantly more positive attitudes toward automatic robots as compared to respondents without usage experience (\(d = 0.47\), \(p <.001\)), even after controlling for socio-demographic differences (i.e., sex, age, years in education) between the two groups (\(d = 0.38\), \(p <.001\)).