Social Comparison between the Self and a Humanoid - Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model in HRI and Psychological Safety.

We investigate whether the SEM model (Self-evaluation mainten- ance model) can be applied in HRI in relation to psychological safety of a robot. The SEM model deals with social comparisons, and predicts the cognitive me- chanism that works to enhance or maintain the relative goodness of the self. The results obtained from 139 participants show that the higher self-relevance of a task is related to a lower evaluation of the robot regardless of actual level of performance. Simultaneously, a higher evaluation of performance relates to higher safety. This study replicates the prediction of the SEM model. In this pa- per, we discuss the generality of these results.