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This article explores users' attitudes, perceptions, views, and emotions toward car automation and robotization, two processes increasingly affecting society in different ways––namely, the rise of autonomous and robotized cars (and vehicles in general) and the increasing level of robotization of current cars. To address these questions, we investigated the feeling of trust and comfort toward driverless cars among Europeans using two Eurobarometer surveys. Making use of two representative samples of the European population, we aimed to explore citizens' attitudes and opinions about automation and digitization. The two surveys involved, respectively, 27,801 and 27,901 participants from all EU-28 countries. Furthermore, we investigated, in Northern Italy, the perception of robotization of cars and other technologies of everyday use, as well as the attitudes and opinions of children and preteens (n = 740), and adolescents (n = 801)—relevant social groups not covered in the Eurobarometer surveys.

In robotics, a field of research still populated by prototypes, much of the research is made through videos and pictures of robots. We study how the highly human-like robot Sophia is perceived through a YouTube video. Often researchers take for granted in their experiments that people perceive humanoids as such. With this study we wanted to understand to what extent a convenience sample of university students perceive Sophia's human-likeness; second, we investigated which mental capabilities and emotions they attribute to her; and third, we explored the possible uses of Sophia they imagine. Our findings suggest that the morphological human-likeness of Sophia, through the video, is not salient in the Sophia's representations of these participants. Only some mental functions are attributed to Sophia and no emotions. Finally, uses of Sophia turned out to be connected to the gender stereotypes that characterize stereotyped women's professions and occupations but not completely.

Given that today 60% of Internet traffic is generated by bots, 'CAPTCHA' (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) tests that are supposedly impossible to be done by robots have been introduced. What are the cognitive and emotional effects of these tests on Internet users? Does this request to demonstrate they are not a robot affect users' identity as human beings? To answer these questions, we selected two groups (117 and 116 respondents, respectively). An online questionnaire that differed only in the task was proposed: we asked the first group to complete some CAPTCHA tests, and the second group to complete some logic tests. In addition to other questions in both versions, we introduced the TLX scale (NASA). Preliminary results show that CAPTCHA execution is associated with feelings of alienation and that the user's self-perception of humanity is influenced by the execution of the two different types of test.

Using the Schwartz Value Model as a basis, the meaning of the value item, honor (sense of honor) was explored in eight samples in Finland ( N = 1877) and in five comparable samples of 15- to 17-year-old adolescents in Estonia, Finland, Italy, Russia, and Switzerland ( N = 1788). In Finland, honor was a self-enhancement value in all age and occupational groups, although its importance varied widely. An identical pattern was found for Estonian adolescents, but for Swiss adolescents honor was both a self-enhancement and a conservation value and for Italian and Russian adolescents, a pure conservation value. Male adolescents had higher regard for honor than female adolescents in Finland, Russia, and Switzerland, but no sex differences were found in Estonia, Italy or in the Finnish adult samples. In all adolescent samples, honor was associated with work-related values (e.g., hard work, conscientiousness).

Perceptions of America as a powerful but malevolent nation decrease its security. On the basis of measures derived from the stereotype content model (SCM) and image theory (IT), 5,000 college students in I I nations indicated their perceptions of the personality traits of, intentions of, and emotional reactions to the United States as well as their reactions to relevant world events (e.g., 9/11). The United States was generally perceived as competent but cold and arrogant. Although participants distinguished between the United States' government and its citizens, differences were small. Consistent with the SCM and IT, viewing the United States as intent on domination predicted perceptions of lack of warmth and of arrogance but not of competence and status. The discussion addresses implications for terrorist recruitment and ally support.

Perceptions of America as a powerful but malevolent nation decrease its security. On the basis of measures derived from the stereotype content model (SCM) and image theory (IT), 5,000 college students in I I nations indicated their perceptions of the personality traits of, intentions of, and emotional reactions to the United States as well as their reactions to relevant world events (e.g., 9/11). The United States was generally perceived as competent but cold and arrogant. Although participants distinguished between the United States' government and its citizens, differences were small. Consistent with the SCM and IT, viewing the United States as intent on domination predicted perceptions of lack of warmth and of arrogance but not of competence and status. The discussion addresses implications for terrorist recruitment and ally support.