Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex Robots
Social robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life and sex robots are a sub-category of especially high public interest and controversy. Starting from the concept of the otaku, a term from Japanese youth culture that describes secluded persons with a high affinity for fictional manga...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00569/full |
| _version_ | 1819102866006081536 |
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| author | Markus Appel Caroline Marker Martina Mara |
| author_facet | Markus Appel Caroline Marker Martina Mara |
| author_sort | Markus Appel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life and sex robots are a sub-category of especially high public interest and controversy. Starting from the concept of the otaku, a term from Japanese youth culture that describes secluded persons with a high affinity for fictional manga characters, we examine individual differences behind sex robot appeal (anime and manga fandom, interest in Japanese culture, preference for indoor activities, shyness). In an online-experiment, 261 participants read one out of three randomly assigned descriptions of future technologies (sex robot, nursing robot, genetically modified organism) and reported on their overall evaluation, eeriness, and contact/purchase intentions. Higher anime and manga fandom was associated with higher appeal for all three future technologies. For our male subsample, sex robots and GMOs stood out as shyness yielded a particularly strong relationship to contact/purchase intentions for these new technologies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T01:41:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8e95b674ccbb4a80910f880fc3a6b7e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T01:41:22Z |
| publishDate | 2019-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-8e95b674ccbb4a80910f880fc3a6b7e32022-12-21T18:43:13ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782019-03-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.00569424347Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex RobotsMarkus Appel0Caroline Marker1Martina Mara2Human-Computer-Media Institute, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyHuman-Computer-Media Institute, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyJohannes Kepler University Linz, LIT Robopsychology Lab, Linz, AustriaSocial robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life and sex robots are a sub-category of especially high public interest and controversy. Starting from the concept of the otaku, a term from Japanese youth culture that describes secluded persons with a high affinity for fictional manga characters, we examine individual differences behind sex robot appeal (anime and manga fandom, interest in Japanese culture, preference for indoor activities, shyness). In an online-experiment, 261 participants read one out of three randomly assigned descriptions of future technologies (sex robot, nursing robot, genetically modified organism) and reported on their overall evaluation, eeriness, and contact/purchase intentions. Higher anime and manga fandom was associated with higher appeal for all three future technologies. For our male subsample, sex robots and GMOs stood out as shyness yielded a particularly strong relationship to contact/purchase intentions for these new technologies.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00569/fullsex robotsanimemangafan cultureotakuismshyness |
| spellingShingle | Markus Appel Caroline Marker Martina Mara Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex Robots Frontiers in Psychology sex robots anime manga fan culture otakuism shyness |
| title | Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex Robots |
| title_full | Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex Robots |
| title_fullStr | Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex Robots |
| title_full_unstemmed | Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex Robots |
| title_short | Otakuism and the Appeal of Sex Robots |
| title_sort | otakuism and the appeal of sex robots |
| topic | sex robots anime manga fan culture otakuism shyness |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00569/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT markusappel otakuismandtheappealofsexrobots AT carolinemarker otakuismandtheappealofsexrobots AT martinamara otakuismandtheappealofsexrobots |