Does Self-Disclosing to a Robot Induce Liking for the Robot? Testing the Disclosure and Liking Hypotheses in Human–Robot Interaction

When someone intimately discloses themselves to a robot, does that make them like the robot more? Does a robot’s reciprocal disclosure contribute to a human’s liking of the robot? To explore whether these disclosure-liking effects in human–human interaction also apply to human–robot interaction, we conducted a between-subjects lab experiment to examine how self-disclosure intimacy (intimate vs. non-intimate) and reciprocal self-disclosure (yes vs. no) from the robot influence participants’ social perceptions (i.e., likability, trustworthiness, and social attraction) toward the robot. None of the disclosure-liking effects were confirmed by the results. In contrast, reciprocal self-disclosure from the robot increased liking in intimate self-disclosure but decreased liking in non-intimate self-disclosure, indicating a crossover interaction effect on likability. A post-hoc analysis was conducted to further understand these patterns. Implications in terms of the computers are social actors (CASA) paradigm were discussed.