Robots as Social Companions? Investigating Longitudinal Companionship and Social Presence in Child-Robot Interaction

In research on human-robot interaction (HRI), the Media are Social Actors (MASA) paradigm has received increasing attention. However, MASA is less explicit about longitudinal developments in social responses to media agents. MASA posits that social signals predict social responses to media agents. We examined specifically the longitudinal relationship between perceived companionship, as a social signal, and social presence toward a social robot, as a social response. Data from five waves of a panel study among 400 children aged 8 to 9 years were used. A consistent longitudinal relationship was not found. A cross-lagged panel model showed that, over time, perceived companionship positively predicted social presence about half of the time. Social presence, generally, did not predict greater perceived companionship over time. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model with its separation of within- and between-subject processes demonstrated no consistent over-time relations. Over-time consistency of predictions of MASA may need further research.