Fictional emotions and emotional reactions to social robots as depictions of social agents

Joint Paper with Eva Weber-Guskar: Fictional emotions and emotional reactions to social robots as depictions of social agents. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, e24.

DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X22001716

Abstract: Following the depiction theory by Clark and Fischer we would expect people interacting with robots to experience fictional emotions akin to those toward films or novels. However, some people’s emotional reactions toward robots display the motivational force typical to non-fictional emotions. We discuss this incongruity and offer two suggestions on how to explain it while maintaining the depiction theory.