Technically in Love: Individual Differences relating to Sexual and Platonic Relationships with Robots

Incremental advancements in technology present researchers with unique opportunities to examine and predict human behavior not only during, but before the integration of technology into daily life. While human-like, autonomous robots are still a thing of science fiction, digital assistant technology is becoming increasingly prevalent in various industries, like entertainment and business. Previous studies have identified trends in both the design and reception of these technologies, including gender biases and social “othering”, which may affect how humans interact with more advanced robotic technologies in the future. The aim of the current study was to determine whether preconceived beliefs about gender inequality and social hierarchies would predict individuals’ interest in engaging in platonic friendships (“robofriendship”) or sexual relationships (“robosexuality”) with hypothetical human-like robots. Gender, ambivalent sexism, social dominance orientation, and sociosexual orientation were used to predict individuals’ interest in both robofriendship and robosexuality. It was found that hostile sexism positively predicted interest in robosexuality, particularly for men (β =.16, b = .27, 95% CI [.03, .30], t(209) =2.364, p =.019). Conversely, hostile sexism negatively predicted robofriendship, and significant interactions effects were found in that at lower levels of SDO, women maintained greater interest in robofriendship than men (β = .26, b = .54, 95% CI [.09, .99], t(208) = -2.235, p = .02). The current study provides preliminary evidence to suggest that preconceived beliefs about social hierarchy and gender inequality may impact romantic and platonic interactions between humans and robots. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.