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Expectations of Robots’ Gender Appearances and Personal Factors: A Survey in Japan

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Abstract

Considering the fact that gender stereotypes may influence people’s attitudes and feelings toward gendered robots, the present research conducted two questionnaire survey studies in Japan to investigate the relationships between expectations of gender assignments to robots and personal factors such as gender stereotypes and occupations. Study I aimed to clarify whether gender conceptions were actually related to feelings toward robots, as well as what factors affect these relationships. The results revealed that individuals with stronger gender biases had more negative attitudes in regard to the social influence of robots, and that correlations between negative attitudes toward interactions with robots and gender conceptions were age-dependent. Study II aimed to investigate what type of gender appearance was expected for nursing care robots. The results suggested that expectations of gender appearances were influenced by the participants’ gender and relationships between their occupations and nursing care, as was anxiety regarding the robots. These results suggest that research on gender in human–robot interaction may promote the future realization of gender equality.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Nos. 20H05573 and 22H04870) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Media Informatics, Ryukoku University, 1-5 Yokotani, Seta-Ohe-Cho, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2194, Japan

    Tatsuya Nomura

  2. School of Child Psychology, Tokyo Future University, 34-12 Senjyu-Akebono, Adachi-ku, Tokyo, 120-0023, Japan

    Tomohiro Suzuki

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  1. Tatsuya Nomura
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  2. Tomohiro Suzuki
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Correspondence to Tatsuya Nomura.

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This study was funded by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Nos. 20H05573 and 22H04870) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Nomura, T., Suzuki, T. Expectations of Robots’ Gender Appearances and Personal Factors: A Survey in Japan. Int J of Soc Robotics 15, 1903–1914 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-023-00984-4

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