Social Robots as Communication Partners to Support Emotional Health and Well-Being

Social robots are attracting increasing attention for their potential use in social and care settings. However, these agents do not (yet) offer the same opportunities as humans for social interactions. Given the importance of self-disclosure for psychological health, I am studying how humans disclose and express their emotions to social robots, and accordingly, how verbal interactions with social robots can support human users' emotional health and well-being. First, I was studying the role of embodiment in humans' disclosures to a social robot, compared to interactions with humans or disembodied agents. Following this, I studied the role of novelty in long-term human-robot interaction. Finally, I investigated how long-term speech-based interactions with social robots can be introduced as an intervention for individuals living in difficult situations. The results of the studies demonstrate the unique psychological nature of these dynamic social interactions with social robots.