Attitudes towards AI: measurement and associations with personality.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of many contemporary technologies, such as social media platforms, smart devices, and global logistics systems. At the same time, research on the public acceptance of AI shows that many people feel quite apprehensive about the potential of such technologies-an observation that has been connected to both demographic and sociocultural user variables (e.g., age, previous media exposure). Yet, due to divergent and often ad-hoc measurements of AI-related attitudes, the current body of evidence remains inconclusive. Likewise, it is still unclear if attitudes towards AI are also affected by users' personality traits. In response to these research gaps, we offer a two-fold contribution. First, we present a novel, psychologically informed questionnaire (ATTARI-12) that captures attitudes towards AI as a single construct, independent of specific contexts or applications. Having observed good reliability and validity for our new measure across two studies (N1 = 490; N2 = 150), we examine several personality traits-the Big Five, the Dark Triad, and conspiracy mentality-as potential predictors of AI-related attitudes in a third study (N3 = 298). We find that agreeableness and younger age predict a more positive view towards artificially intelligent technology, whereas the susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs connects to a more negative attitude. Our findings are discussed considering potential limitations and future directions for research and practice.

Recognizing the beauty in diversity: Exposure to body-positive content on social media broadens women's concept of ideal body weight.

By depicting an unrealistic share of skinny or toned body types, modern mass media have been found to shift users' perception of an ideal body toward narrow and often unattainable standards. In response to this, the "#bodypositivity" (BoPo) movement on social media has set out to challenge restrictive body ideals, advocating for more open-minded views toward the human physique. Matching BoPo's emphasis on diversity, we hypothesized that viewing body-positive online content alters women's concept of an ideal body to encompass a broader range of body shapes (on a spectrum from skinny to obese). The results of two pre-registered experiments (N1 = 191; N2 = 266) support our assumption, connecting BoPo not only to a larger mean ideal body shape but also to a diversification of weight-related standards. We discuss our work as a crucial extension of prior research, noting that the range found in people's bodily ideals may be (at least) as relevant as their central tendency. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

User Responses to a Humanoid Robot Observed in Real Life, Virtual Reality, 3D and 2D.

Humanoid robots (i.e., robots with a human-like body) are projected to be mass marketed in the future in several fields of application. Today, however, user evaluations of humanoid robots are often based on mediated depictions rather than actual observations or interactions with a robot, which holds true not least for scientific user studies. People can be confronted with robots in various modes of presentation, among them (1) 2D videos, (2) 3D, i.e., stereoscopic videos, (3) immersive Virtual Reality (VR), or (4) live on site. A systematic investigation into how such differential modes of presentation influence user perceptions of a robot is still lacking. Thus, the current study systematically compares the effects of different presentation modes with varying immersive potential on user evaluations of a humanoid service robot. Participants (N = 120) observed an interaction between a humanoid service robot and an actor either on 2D or 3D video, via a virtual reality headset (VR) or live. We found support for the expected effect of the presentation mode on perceived immediacy. Effects regarding the degree of human likeness that was attributed to the robot were mixed. The presentation mode had no influence on evaluations in terms of eeriness, likability, and purchase intentions. Implications for empirical research on humanoid robots and practice are discussed.

Venturing into the uncanny valley of mind-The influence of mind attribution on the acceptance of human-like characters in a virtual reality setting.

For more than 40years, the uncanny valley model has captivated researchers from various fields of expertise. Still, explanations as to why slightly imperfect human-like characters can evoke feelings of eeriness remain the subject of controversy. Many experiments exploring the phenomenon have emphasized specific visual factors in connection to evolutionary psychological theories or an underlying categorization conflict. More recently, studies have also shifted away focus from the appearance of human-like entities, instead exploring their mental capabilities as basis for observers' discomfort. In order to advance this perspective, we introduced 92 participants to a virtual reality (VR) chat program and presented them with two digital characters engaged in an emotional and empathic dialogue. Using the same pre-recorded 3D scene, we manipulated the perceived control type of the depicted characters (human-controlled avatars vs. computer-controlled agents), as well as their alleged level of autonomy (scripted vs. self-directed actions). Statistical analyses revealed that participants experienced significantly stronger eeriness if they perceived the empathic characters to be autonomous artificial intelligences. As human likeness and attractiveness ratings did not result in significant group differences, we present our results as evidence for an "uncanny valley of mind" that relies on the attribution of emotions and social cognition to non-human entities. A possible relationship to the philosophy of anthropocentrism and its "threat to human distinctiveness" concept is discussed.