Similarities and differences between human-human and human-automation trust: an integrative review

The trust placed in diagnostic aids by the human operator is a critical psychological factor that influences operator reliance on automation. Studies examining the nature of human interaction with automation have revealed that users have a propensity to apply norms of human-human inter-personal interaction to their interaction with 'intelligent machines'. Nevertheless, there exist subtle differences in the manner in which humans perceive and react to automated aids compared to human team-mates. In the present paper, the concept of trust in human-automation dyads is compared and contrasted with that of human-human dyads. A theoretical framework that synthesizes and describes the process of trust development in humans vs automated aids is proposed and implications for the design of decision aids are provided. Potential implications of this research include the improved design of decision support systems by incorporating features into automated aids that elicit operator responses mirroring responses in human-human inter-personal interaction. Such interventions will likely facilitate better quantification and prediction of human responses to automation, while improving the quality of human interaction with non-human team-mates.