Attentiveness: A Key Factor in Fostering Affective and Cognitive Trust with Non-Humanoid Robots

Affective trust and cognitive trust are fundamental elements in human-robot interactions. They impact robots' acceptance, the level of engagement, and the tendency to rely on robots in various contexts. Opposite effects are observed when the interaction with a robot is unreliable and untrustworthy. In this study, we examined the possibility of enhancing both aspects of trust by manipulating the robot's level of attentiveness to the participant. We focused on robotic attentiveness since it can be easily applied even to highly simple non-humanoid robots, positioning it as a method for enhancing trust for robots with different morphologies. Specifically, we evaluated whether minimal attentive robotic gestures can enhance affective and cognitive aspects of trust and whether inattentive robotic behavior can decrease them. Quantitative and qualitative results indicated that the robot's attentiveness impacted both aspects of trust. Participants in the Attentive Robot condition reported higher affective and cognitive trust scores, smaller interpersonal distance, and a higher number of participants reported that the robot would "be there for them", in comparison to the Inattentive Robot and Baseline conditions. Our findings suggest that an attentive robotic behavior, can support human affective and cognitive trust and enhance human-robot interaction.