WHEN A CHILD MEETS A ROBOT: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT MAKE INTERACTION POSSIBLE

This PhD thesis, title When a child meets a robot: the psychological factors that make interaction possible, wants to introduce and explore a fairly new field of psychological research that specifically deals with the child-robot interaction, presenting the many facets that characterize it and the main psychological constructs such as the Theory of Mind (ToM), trust, attachment relationship, without neglecting, moreover, the value of the design of the robots used in the studies that have made this thesis possible. The research works, presented here, exploring the constructs mentioned above, investigating them in depth and with scientific curiosity. In detail, the following studies are presented: 1) Shall I trust you? From Child-Robot Interaction To Trusting Relationship, 2) Can a robot lie? The role of false belief and intentionality understanding in children aged 5 and 6 years, 3) A robot is not worth another: exploring Children’s Mental State Attribution to Different Humanoid Robots, 4) Coding with me: exploring the effect of a coding intervention on preschoolers’cognitive skills. Finally, in the last chapter, concerning the conclusions, a theoretical reflection is developed regarding the relevant role assumed by children's cognitive development in interactional processes with robotic agents.

La presente tesi di dottorato, dal titolo When a child meets a robot: the psychological factors that make interaction possible, vuole introdurre ed esplorare un campo abbastanza nuovo della ricerca psicologica che si occupa specificatamente dell’interazione bambino-robot, presentando le molteplici sfaccettature che la caratterizzano e i principali costrutti psicologici come la Teoria della Mente (ToM), la fiducia, la relazione di attaccamento, non tralasciando, inoltre, la valenza del design dei robot utilizzati nelle ricerche che hanno reso possibile questa tesi. I lavori di ricerca, qui presentati, vanno ad esplorare i costrutti sopra citati, indagandoli in profondità e con curiosità scientifica. Nel dettaglio, sono presentate le seguenti ricerche: 1) Shall I trust you? From Child-Robot Interaction To Trusting Relationship, 2) Can a robot lie? The role of false belief and intentionality understanding in children aged 5 and 6 years, 3) A robot is not worth another: exploring Children’s Mental State Attribution to Different Humanoid Robots, 4) Coding with me: exploring the effect of coding intervention on preschoolers’cognitive skills. Infine, nell’ultimo capitolo, relativo alle conclusioni, viene sviluppata una riflessione teorica riguardante il ruolo rilevante assunto dallo sviluppo cognitivo dei bambini nei processi interazionali con gli agenti robotici.