Moral psychology of nursing robots: Exploring the role of robots in dilemmas of patient autonomy

Laakasuo, Michael; Palomäki, Jussi; Kunnari, Anton; Rauhala, Sanna; Drosinou, Marianna; Halonen, Juho; Lehtonen, Noora; Koverola, Mika; Repo, Marko; Sundvall, Jukka; Visala, Aku; Francis, Kathryn B.

Abstract

Artificial intelligences (AIs) are widely used in tasks ranging from transportation to healthcare and military, but it is not yet known how people prefer them to act in ethically difficult situations. In five studies (an anthropological field study, n=30, and four experiments, total n=2150), we presented people with vignettes where a human or an advanced robot nurse is ordered by a doctor to forcefully medicate an unwilling patient. Participants were more accepting of a human nurse’s than a robot nurse’s forceful medication of the patient, and more accepting of (human or robot) nurses who respected patient autonomy rather than followed the orders to forcefully medicate (Study 2). The findings were robust against the perceived competence of the robot (Study 3), moral luck (whether the patient lived or died afterwards; Study 4) and command chain effects (Study 5; fully automated supervision or not). Thus, people PREFER robots capable of disobeying orders in favor of abstract moral principles like valuing personal autonomy. Our studies fit in a new era in research, where moral psychological phenomena no longer reflect only interactions between people, but between people and autonomous AIs.

Citation

Laakasuo, M., Palomäki, J., Kunnari, A., Rauhala, S., Drosinou, M., Halonen, J., …Francis, K. B. (2023). Moral psychology of nursing robots: Exploring the role of robots in dilemmas of patient autonomy. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53(1), 108-128. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2890

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 4, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Sep 25, 2022
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 27, 2023
• Journal: European Journal of Social Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0046-2772
• Publisher: Wiley
• Volume: 53
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 108-128
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2890
• Keywords: Social Psychology
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.2890