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Background <p>With the rapid advancements in emotion processing algorithm within artificial intelligence, it is essential to explore the evolving relationships between humans and robots. This exploration can prepare society for the future widespread application of social robots and address the new social dynamics involving AI agents. Human–robot empathy emerges as a crucial avenue for exploring the emotional connections between humans and robots. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of users’ perceptions of robots’ minds on human–robot empathy.</p> Methods <p>This study manipulated perceived theory of mind (ToM) in robots through human–robot interaction scenarios, utilizing four experiments to assess the effects of perceived ToM in robots—categorized as cognitive ToM (cToM) in Experiments 1a and 2a, and affective ToM (aToM) in Experiments 1b and 2b—on human–robot empathy, including pain empathy and empathic concern. Experiments 1a and 1b examined the influence of perceived ToM in robots on human–robot empathy within classic ToM scenarios, while Experiments 2a and 2b were conducted within real service contexts, further investigating the mediating role of users’ mind perceptions of robots.</p> Findings <p>First, perceiving a robot with high aToM significantly enhanced users’ pain empathy and empathic concern towards robots, with the experience dimension of mind perception potentially serving as an indirect-only mediator in this relationship. Second, in real home service scenarios in Experiment 2, while the total effect of high cToM on empathic concern was not statistically significant after multiple comparisons correction, mediation analysis revealed a significant negative direct effect alongside a positive indirect effect through agency. This pattern suggests that perceiving high cToM may simultaneously inhibit empathic concern directly while potentially fostering it through enhanced agency perception.</p> Conclusion <p>The findings demonstrate that perceived aToM in robots consistently enhances human–robot emotional interactions, while revealing a more complex dual-pathway mechanism for cToM effects. These results provide valuable insights into how distinct dimensions of mind perception shape human–robot relationships.</p>

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Perceiving minds in machines: how perceived theory of mind in robots influences human–robot empathy through the lens of mind perception theory

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年12月29日

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  • Ruolin Fan,
  • Yunjia Zheng,
  • Jiayi Li,
  • Guiping Xu

摘要

Background

With the rapid advancements in emotion processing algorithm within artificial intelligence, it is essential to explore the evolving relationships between humans and robots. This exploration can prepare society for the future widespread application of social robots and address the new social dynamics involving AI agents. Human–robot empathy emerges as a crucial avenue for exploring the emotional connections between humans and robots. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of users’ perceptions of robots’ minds on human–robot empathy.

Methods

This study manipulated perceived theory of mind (ToM) in robots through human–robot interaction scenarios, utilizing four experiments to assess the effects of perceived ToM in robots—categorized as cognitive ToM (cToM) in Experiments 1a and 2a, and affective ToM (aToM) in Experiments 1b and 2b—on human–robot empathy, including pain empathy and empathic concern. Experiments 1a and 1b examined the influence of perceived ToM in robots on human–robot empathy within classic ToM scenarios, while Experiments 2a and 2b were conducted within real service contexts, further investigating the mediating role of users’ mind perceptions of robots.

Findings

First, perceiving a robot with high aToM significantly enhanced users’ pain empathy and empathic concern towards robots, with the experience dimension of mind perception potentially serving as an indirect-only mediator in this relationship. Second, in real home service scenarios in Experiment 2, while the total effect of high cToM on empathic concern was not statistically significant after multiple comparisons correction, mediation analysis revealed a significant negative direct effect alongside a positive indirect effect through agency. This pattern suggests that perceiving high cToM may simultaneously inhibit empathic concern directly while potentially fostering it through enhanced agency perception.

Conclusion

The findings demonstrate that perceived aToM in robots consistently enhances human–robot emotional interactions, while revealing a more complex dual-pathway mechanism for cToM effects. These results provide valuable insights into how distinct dimensions of mind perception shape human–robot relationships.