Trust in Computerized Decision Aids

Technological advances have created computers that can aid people in making decisions in areas as simple as driving directions and as complex as diagnosing disease. These applications have the potential to improve our lives substantially, but research has shown that they are infrequently used. Why is this? Do people mistrust computers? Is there real reason to be more confident in human decision-making than in computers?

With support from the Foundation, Jonathan Baron of the University of Pennsylvania will run a collection of web-based experiments to determine trust in computerized decision aids. In each experiment, subjects will use a decision aid, and then answer questions about the device itself and about their faith in human decision-makers. Baron believes that people might be more forgiving of human error than computer error and that they will take human decisions more seriously than those meted out by a computer. He will also test to see if subjects are more willing to trust inaccurate decision aids that mirror their own errors in decision-making, such as reaching decisions based on incomplete or partial information.