Robot can reduce superior's dominance in group discussions with human social hierarchy

TL;DR

This study explores how robots can modulate social hierarchy dynamics in group discussions by encouraging less dominant members to participate more, aiming to reduce superiors' dominance without affecting overall satisfaction.

Contribution

It introduces a robot intervention method that adjusts its behavior based on social hierarchy to promote equal participation in hierarchical group discussions.

Findings

Robot actions influenced speaking time among participants.

No significant difference found between robot intervention conditions.

Potential to suppress dominance without reducing superiors' satisfaction.

Abstract

This study investigated whether robotic agents that deal with social hierarchical relationships can reduce the dominance of superiors and equalize participation among participants in discussions with hierarchical structures. Thirty doctors and students having hierarchical relationship were gathered as participants, and an intervention experiment was conducted using a robot that can encourage participants to speak depending on social hierarchy. These were compared with strategies that intervened equally for all participants without considering hierarchy and with a no-action. The robots performed follow actions, showing backchanneling to speech, and encourage actions, prompting speech from members with less speaking time, on the basis of the hierarchical relationships among group members to equalize participation. The experimental results revealed that the robot's actions could potentially influence the speaking time among members, but it could not be conclusively stated that there were significant differences between the robot's action conditions. However, the results suggested that it might be possible to influence speaking time without decreasing the satisfaction of superiors. This indicates that in discussion scenarios where experienced superiors are likely to dominate, controlling the robot's backchanneling behavior could potentially suppress dominance and equalize participation among group members.