Robots can influence the opinions and decisions of young children, according to a study which shows that kids are significantly more susceptible to manipulation by machines than adults.
Researchers from University of Plymouth in the U.K. compared how adults and children respond to an identical task when in the presence of both their peers and humanoid robots.
It showed that while adults regularly have their opinions influenced by peers, something also demonstrated in previous studies, they are largely able to resist being persuaded by robots.
However, children aged between seven and nine were more likely to give the same responses as the robots, even if they were obviously incorrect.
The study used the Asch paradigm, first developed in the 1950s, which asks people to look at a screen showing four lines and say which two match in length.
When alone, people almost never make a mistake but when doing the experiment with others, they tend to follow what others are saying.
When children were alone in the room in this research, they scored 87% on the test, but when the robots join in their score drops to 75%. Of the wrong answers, 74% matched those of the robot.
The study, published in the journal Science Robotics , provides an interesting insight into how robots could be used positively within society.
