Virtue – Corruptor
The users can exercise unkind behaviour towards the robot, with negative effects on subsequent human interactions.
The concern of human-robot interaction as a corruptor focuses on how repeated interaction with robots may shape human behaviour in unintended ways. While robots are often designed to support, assist, or entertain, their social role can also influence users' habits and attitudes over time. The concern is not only about what robots do in a single interaction, but about what kind of person a user may become through many small, repeated encounters with machines that respond differently from humans.
On the negative side, there is a risk that users might engage in unkind or unethical behaviour towards robots. This can happen particularly if they do not perceive the robot as deserving of respect. The concern that emerged from the scoping review is that this behaviour could then spill over, and corrupt, their interactions with other people.
This concern is reflected in empirical and theoretical work on how technology can shape moral and social dispositions. Participants in one study expressed worry that technological change might reduce empathy and compassion, while encouraging laziness and selfishness. In another line of argument, human-robot interaction is described as potentially reinforcing dehumanised dynamics: when robots are treated as subordinates in a master-slave relationship, they may encourage authoritarian or cruel attitudes, especially when users become used to giving orders without social consequence. This includes concerns about children interacting with overly compliant "robot nannies," where the inability of the robot to refuse or resist may normalise bullying-like behaviour and reinforce entitlement. Related discussions also highlight how robots enabling unrestricted or compulsive behaviours could further disinhibit harmful tendencies, particularly when systems are designed without constraints that consider human wellbeing.
Excerpts from the paper:
About the value "Virtue"
Repetitive interactions with others can in the long run shape our behaviour, and this applies to human-robot interaction as well. This value, suggested by the focus groups participants, addresses both the positive and negative influences a robot can have on its users.
About "Corruptor"
On the other hand, there is a risk that users might engage in unkind or unethical behaviour towards robots. This could happen particularly if they do not perceive the robot as deserving of respect. The concern that emerged from the scoping review is that this behaviour could then spill over – and corrupt – their interactions with other people.