Trust between humans and robots: Do people perceive that robots trust them?

As AI and robots become increasingly integrated into daily life, fostering trust in robots is essential for establishing long-term human-robot relationships. Enhancing people’s trust in robots can help mitigate anxiety and aversion toward them. While previous research has primarily focused on trust in robots based on their performance and achievements, this study explores the impact of robots appearing to trust humans on human decision-making. In this study, a robot performed the Prisoner’s Dilemma task three times with participants. We examined whether participants’ choices in the game were influenced by the robot’s eye color (blue, red), the robot’s behavior (available, not available), and before/after the task using a three-factor mixed design. The first experiment assessed whether the robot appeared to trust participants using a questionnaire. The second measured participants’ trust in the robot after the interaction. Analysis results indicated that as the number of Prisoner’s Dilemma interactions increased, participants were more likely to betray the robot. However, trust in the robot increased after the task, suggesting that participants felt more trusted by the robot, which in turn enhanced their own trust in it. This study introduces a novel perspective on human-robot relationships, highlighting how making people feel trusted by a robot can foster greater trust toward it.