Can You Handle The Truth? The Effects of Robots Correcting Users’ Misalignment on Trust and Perceived Social Competence

For social robots to collaborate effectively, they must infer and correct false human beliefs, especially when misconceptions directly impact task outcomes or pose safety risks to humans. In this work, we investigated whether a robot’s ability to detect and rectify users’ false beliefs improves trust and perceived social competence. In an in-person between-subject study, 98 participants collaborated with a robot to solve a task. Participants interacted with either a robot that actively corrected their false beliefs by using Theory of Mind or one that complied with their incorrect instructions. Contrary to expectations, trust, mental state attribution, and perceived warmth or competence did not differ between groups. The results also showed that human reluctance to trust the robot’s input persisted, suggesting that belief correction alone cannot overcome relational barriers. In addition, the study showed that participants who trusted the robot’s corrections perceived it as more socially attuned.