Humor plays a pivotal role in our lives, influencing our well-being, our coping mechanisms for stress, and our perception of those around us. This thesis aimed to investigate how the introduction of verbal humor in interactions with social robots could enhance these interactions and foster greater acceptance of this technology. To achieve this objective, we followed a four-step approach. First, we conducted lit...
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,...
Advancements in technology have allowed the emergence of novel forms of social interaction. More specifically, in the last decades, the emergence of social robots has triggered a multidisciplinary effort towards achieving a better understanding of how humans and robots interact. In this dissertation, our goal was to contribute towards that effort by considering the role of goal orientation displayed by the robo...