Theory of affective bonding: a framework to explain how people may relate to social robots and artificial others

As social beings, we humans are driven to connect, and not only to fellow humans. We readily develop emotional connections toward “beings” that are in fact not humans, demonstrated by millennia-old fascinations with fictional characters. More recently observed with technologies capable of socially engaging as artificial others, responding almost as if they were humans themselves. As these technologies advance, digital and robotic entities become more proficient at offering assistance and to satisfy our need to connect and establish meaningful relationships. This article reviews and integrates literature from various fields to examine the key concepts and psycho-social mechanisms underlying relationship formation between humans and artificial others, specifically focusing on social robots. The resulting theoretical framework, the theory of affective bonding (TAB), seeks to explain how, when and why people would bond to non-human entities or social robots, building on four key propositions. This coherent multi-disciplinary framework may advance the field and guide future research in human–robot communication and relationship formation over time.