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Advancements in artificial intelligence and (social) robotics raise pertinent questions as to how these technologies may help shape the society of the future. The main aim of the chapter is to consider the social and conceptual disruptions that might be associated with social robots, and humanoid social robots in particular. This chapter starts by comparing the concepts of robots and artificial intelligence, and briefly explores the origins of these expressions. It then explains what a social robot is, as well as what humanoid robots are. A key notion in this context is the idea of anthropomorphism: the human tendency to attribute human qualities, not only to our fellow human beings, but also to parts of nature and to technologies. This tendency to anthropomorphize technologies by responding to and interacting with them as if they have human qualities is one of the reasons why social robots – in particular social robots designed to look and behave like human beings – can be socially disruptive. As is explained in the chapter, while some ethics researchers think that anthropomorphization is a mistake that can lead to various forms of deception, others – including both ethics researchers and social roboticists – believe it can be useful or fitting to treat robots in anthropomorphizing ways. The chapter explores that disagreement by, among other things, considering recent philosophical debates about whether social robots can be moral patients; that is, whether it can make sense to treat them with moral consideration. Where one stands on this issue will depend on one’s views about whether social robots can have, imitate, or represent morally relevant properties, or on how people relate to social robots in their interactions with them. Lastly, the chapter urges that the ethics of social robots should explore intercultural perspectives, and highlights some recent research on ubuntu ethics and social robots.

The application of social robots in persuading people to change health behaviors is an increasing research topic. However, little is known in what ways, and under what conditions, effective health persuasion can be achieved in human-robot interaction (HRI). This position paper presents a conceptual model that integrates interpersonal relationship theories to postulate a mechanism through which social robots can change people’s health behaviors. In this paper, we first briefly describe the two interpersonal relationship theories we selectively focus on, namely social control and interdependence theory, and we discuss the possibility of people forming relationships with social robots. Then, we propose the conceptual model depicting the potential positive and negative influence of social robots’ health persuasion on people’s psychological and behavioral reactions and the modulating role of human-robot relationships. Finally, we discuss the implications of this model for future research.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been applied to health behavior change research for over a decade. Current research programs include machine learning for delivering just-in-time adaptive interventions, computational modeling of behavior change processes, and the use of social AI for communication and persuasion. With new advances in AI, we propose an international workshop to bring together experts from all related disciplines to discuss and explore the potentials of AI for behavior change research. We discuss in this proposal the aims, planned activities, expected outcomes, and a promotion strategy for the workshop.

The need for touch exists below the horizon of consciousness. Interpersonal touch, or gentle physical contact between individuals, is an important aspect of human social interaction and has been shown to have numerous benefits for senior individuals. One of the main ways that interpersonal touch can benefit senior individuals is by reducing feelings of loneliness and social isolation. The outbreak of COVID-19 necessitated social distancing measures to mitigate the negative health consequences of the pandemic, which were particularly pronounced amongst vulnerable populations, especially those who live with dementia. At the same time, seniors’ psychosocial wellbeing was compromised as opportunities for interpersonal touch became severely restricted. In this paper, we share what we have learned during the pandemic both on the critical importance of social touch for senior individuals, as well as on innovative ways to ameliorate the forced absence of social touch. Through a targeted literature review and an online survey study, our findings highlights the fact that social relationships and physical contact are key to personal wellbeing and underline the importance of social touch at an advanced age.

As a consequence of the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic in the spring of 2020, large-scale social distancing measures were implemented, resulting in the forced adoption of online or digital forms of psychological treatment. This sudden transition to digital care offered a unique opportunity to investigate if and how this experience impacted mental healthcare professionals’ perceptions and use of Digital Mental Health tools. The current paper presents findings of a repeated cross-sectional study consisting of three iterations of a national online survey in the Netherlands. This survey contained open and closed questions on professionals’ adoption readiness, frequency of use, perceived competency, and perceived value of Digital Mental Health collected in 2019 (before the pandemic), in 2020 (after the first wave), and in 2021 (after the second wave). The inclusion of data gathered prior to the COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique window to assess how professionals’ adoption has developed through this transition from voluntary to mandatory use of Digital Mental Health tools. Our study also re-assesses the drivers, barriers, and needs of mental healthcare professionals after having gained experience with Digital Mental Health. In total, 1,039 practitioners completed the surveys (Survey 1: n = 432, Survey 2: n = 363, and Survey 3: n = 244). Results indicate that compared to the period before the pandemic, there was a particularly large increase in use, competency, and perceived value regarding videoconferencing. Small differences were also found for some other basic tools that were crucial to ensure the continuation of care, such as e-mail, text messaging, and online screening, but not for more innovative technologies, such as virtual reality and biofeedback. Many practitioners reported to have gained skills regarding Digital Mental Health and experienced several benefits of it. They expressed the intention to continue with a blended approach, using Digital Mental H

Social touch is essential to human development and communication. Mediated social touch is suggested as a solution for circumstances where distance prevents skin-to-skin contact. However, past research aimed at demonstrating efficacy of mediated touch in reducing stress and promoting helping have produced mixed findings. These inconsistent findings could possibly be due to insufficient control of contextual factors combined with unnatural interaction scenarios. For example, touch occurs less frequently among strangers and is often accompanied with nonverbal visual cues. We investigated how visual presentation of touch, and interpersonal relationship to the sender influence perception, affective experiences, and autonomic responses the touch evoke. Fifty couples of mixed gender were recruited. A mediated touch was repeatedly applied by either the male partner or male confederate to female participants. The latter witnessed through a webcam as the sender caressed a rubber hand or touchpad to send the touch. Following our hypotheses, touch sent by one's partner was perceived softer and more comforting than stranger touch. The partner's touch also resulted in weaker skin conductance responses, particularly when sent by touching a touchpad. In sum, how a mediated touch is experienced depends both on who is touching, and on how the touch is visually represented.

As a consequence of the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic in the spring of 2020, large-scale social distancing measures were implemented, resulting in the forced adoption of online or digital forms of psychological treatment. This sudden transition to digital care offered a unique opportunity to investigate if and how this experience impacted mental healthcare professionals’ perceptions and use of Digital Mental Health tools. The current paper presents findings of a repeated cross-sectional study consisting of three iterations of a national online survey in the Netherlands. This survey contained open and closed questions on professionals’ adoption readiness, frequency of use, perceived competency, and perceived value of Digital Mental Health collected in 2019 (before the pandemic), in 2020 (after the first wave), and in 2021 (after the second wave). The inclusion of data gathered prior to the COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique window to assess how professionals’ adoption has developed through this transition from voluntary to mandatory use of Digital Mental Health tools. Our study also re-assesses the drivers, barriers, and needs of mental healthcare professionals after having gained experience with Digital Mental Health. In total, 1,039 practitioners completed the surveys (Survey 1: n = 432, Survey 2: n = 363, and Survey 3: n = 244). Results indicate that compared to the period before the pandemic, there was a particularly large increase in use, competency, and perceived value regarding videoconferencing. Small differences were also found for some other basic tools that were crucial to ensure the continuation of care, such as e-mail, text messaging, and online screening, but not for more innovative technologies, such as virtual reality and biofeedback. Many practitioners reported to have gained skills regarding Digital Mental Health and experienced several benefits of it. They expressed the intention to continue with a blended approach, using Digital Menta

Biosensing technologies have advanced to a level where measurements of our physiology have become easily accessible, and new areas of application are being explored, including interpersonal communication via biosignals. To date, it is largely unknown what the communication characteristics of biosignal sharing are and how they influence experiences of biosignal-mediated interactions. By conceptualizing biosignal sharing as a new communication medium, we try to benefit from earlier theories and models that help describe and understand the communication properties that are inherently part of biosignal sharing, but have not previously been examined in this way. In this paper, we review the published literature on biosignal sharing and analyze the current state of the art using two complementary methods of analysis. First, we extend an existing framework of relevant communication dimensions and apply this to examine the characteristics of biosignal sharing systems. Second, we perform a thematic analysis on user experiences related to biosignal sharing available from literature. Then, we combine these findings and link the communication characteristics to the experiences of biosignal sharing. We discuss our findings, elucidating the way in which biosignal sharing affects the interpersonal communication process. Based on these insights, we provide several considerations for future research and design.