AI systems such as chatbots, robots and autonomous vehicles are becoming increasingly established in society. User trust is of significant relevance for the acceptance and adoption of AI systems. This growing importance of trust in AI systems runs parallel to another trend, the increasing understanding that the personality of the user is related to trust and therefore influences the extent to which an individual trusts and subsequently uses AI applications. So far, primarily universal personality traits have been analysed in the literature, but there are also specific personality traits that play an important role. These include the personality variable ‘’locus of control‘’, which refers to the extent to which people believe that their actions and behaviour can influence events in their lives. Previous research suggests that there is a negative correlation between internal locus of control and trust in AI systems, but this phenomenon has not yet been sufficiently researched. The aim of this master's thesis is therefore to investigate a possible correlation between the personality variable locus of control and trust in certain AI systems. In order to answer this research question, a comprehensive literature review was conducted in which the existing literature dealing with a connection between personality and trust in AI systems was analysed. Subsequently, the identified works that examined the locus of control were analysed in detail. The thesis is divided into 6 chapters. The first chapter contains the introduction, problem definition and methodology. The second chapter describes the theoretical foundations required for this work. Chapter 3 deals with the personality variable locus of control. The fourth chapter documents the literature review. The fifth chapter analyses and evaluates those publications that address the locus of control. The final chapter contains a conclusion, limitation and outlook. The literature review lists a total of 81 publications that analyse the relationship between personality and trust in a specific AI system. Of these, 7 papers examined the personality variable locus of control. Two perspectives were identified with regard to the hypotheses concerning the relationship between locus of control and trust in AI. On the one hand, it was hypothesised that an internal locus of control is negatively related to trust, as people with an internal locus of control prefer to rely on their own abilities and do not want to relinquish control. On the other hand, it was also hypothesised that an internal locus of control is associated with more trust, as these people consider themselves more capable of dealing with an intelligent system and using it appropriately. The results of the analysed studies show that two independent studies were able to prove a negative correlation between internal locus of control and trust in a specific AI system. However, other studies also indicate that people with a high internal locus of control are more willing to trust intelligent systems. Analysing the differences between the users and the tasks/environments of these studies could provide an explanation for these at first glance contradictory results.
Date of Award | 2024 |
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Original language | German (Austria) |
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Supervisor | René Riedl (Supervisor) |
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Einfluss der Persönlichkeitsvariable „Locus of Control“ auf das Vertrauen in KI-Systeme
Pichlbauer, M. (Author). 2024
Student thesis: Master's Thesis