Germ-Free Robotic Friends: Loneliness during the COVID-19 Pandemic Enhanced the Willingness to Self-Disclose towards Robots

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people felt lonely. Social robots may serve to alleviate such feelings of social disconnection. Prior research pointed out that lonely or socially excluded individuals were particularly willing to interact with social robots, because they tend to anthropomorphize robots. Such anthropomorphization may facilitate deeming robots suitable as social interaction partners. To extend existing research on the role of social robots for lonely people, we examined the effect of inclusionary status (i.e., inclusion vs. exclusion vs. control) on mind perception, perceived warmth, and participants’ willingness to self-disclose towards a social robot. We hypothesized that social exclusion would increase mind perception, perceived warmth, and participants’ willingness to self-disclose towards a social robot. Above and beyond, we assessed self-reported loneliness during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas inclusionary status had no effect on the dependent variables, correlational analyses revealed that the more COVID-19-induced loneliness participants experienced, the more they were willing to self-disclose towards a robot. Likewise, these individuals attributed more mind agency to the robot and reported to look forward to a conversation with the robot. Summing up, people who experience situational loneliness may be particularly prone to accept social robots as social interaction partners.