The minds of machines

Children's beliefs about the experiences, thoughts, and morals of familiar interactive technologies

Bibliographic Data

ID9787779
AuthorsTeresa Flanagan (0000-0002-6003-7089, Cornell University, corresponding author), Gavin Wong (Cornell University), Talma Kushnir (0000-0002-7656-6292, Duke University)
Year2023
Volume59
Issue6
Pages1017-1031
Publication date2023-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopmental Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-1649 • E-ISSN: 1939-0599
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/dev0001524
OpenAlexW4363645711
LanguageEN
Citations received10

Children are developing alongside interactive technologies that can move, talk, and act like agents, but it is unclear if children's beliefs about the agency of these household technologies are similar to their beliefs about advanced, humanoid robots used in lab research. This study investigated 4-11-year-old children's (N = 127, Mage = 7.50, SDage = 2.27, 53% females, 75% White; from the Northeastern United States) beliefs about the mental, physical, emotional, and moral features of two familiar technologies (Amazon Alexa and Roomba) in comparison to their beliefs about a humanoid robot (Nao). Children's beliefs about the agency of these technologies were organized into three distinct clusters-having experiences, having minds, and deserving moral treatment. Children endorsed some agent-like features for each technology type, but the extent to which they did so declined with age. Furthermore, children's judgment of the technologies' freedom to "act otherwise" in moral scenarios changed with age, suggesting a development shift in children's understanding of technologies' limitations. Importantly, there were systematic differences between Alexa, Roomba, and Nao, that correspond to the unique characteristics of each. Together these findings suggest that children's intuitive theories of agency are informed by an increasingly technological world. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Agency (philosophy · Child development · Developmental psychology · Emerging technologies · MEDLINE · PsycINFO · Social science · Sociology · Digital Mental Health Interventions · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Law · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Psychology · Social Psychology