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Article published In: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Human-AI Team Trust
Edited by Nicolo' Brandizzi, Morgan Elizabeth Bailey, Carolina Centeio Jorge, Myke C. Cohen, Francesco Frattolillo and Alan Richard Wagner
[Interaction Studies 26:2] 2025
► pp. 200–228

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Trusting machine teammates

The role of personifying and objectifying language in team communication

ORCiD logo with link | Arizona State University | Aptima, Inc.
 | Arizona State University
 | Arizona State University
Published online: 27 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.24050.coh
Abstract
Team communication content can provide insights into teammates’ coordination processes and perceptions of one another. Using a simulated aircraft reconnaissance team task testbed, we investigate how personifying and objectifying communication content relate to people’s trust in and anthropomorphism of machine teammates and to overall team performance. A total of 44 participants were paired and assigned to one of two unique team roles alongside a synthetic pilot agent. Instances of verbal personifications and objectifications that occurred during the task were captured and compared to team performance, as well as questionnaire responses related to participants’ trust in, and anthropomorphizing of, the synthetic pilot. Verbal personifications were not correlated with trust and anthropomorphism but converged for the two human roles over time, along with a convergence in trust towards the synthetic agent. Verbal objectifications, on the other hand, were negatively correlated with perceived trustworthiness and anthropomorphism of a teammate. Neither verbal personifications nor objectifications were found to be related to team performance. Our findings suggest that people verbally personify machines to ease communication, and that the same processes that underlie tendencies to verbally personify and objectify machines are related to those that influence trust and anthropomorphism.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Team communication and team cognition
    • 2.2Trust and anthropomorphism in HMT communication
    • 2.3Personification & objectification in HMT communication
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Remotely piloted aircraft system synthetic task environment
    • 3.2Experimental design
    • 3.3Participants
    • 3.4Procedure
    • 3.5Measures
      • 3.5.1Verbal personifications and objectifications
      • 3.5.2Self-reported trust and anthropomorphism
      • 3.5.3Team performance
    • 3.6Hypotheses
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Survey, verbal, & performance measure correlations
      • 4.1.1Verbal personifications & survey measures
      • 4.1.2Verbal objectifications & survey measures
      • 4.1.3Verbal behaviors & team performance
      • 4.1.4Verbal personifications & verbal objectifications
    • 4.2Survey & verbal trends over time & between roles
      • 4.2.1Survey measures
      • 4.2.2Verbal measures
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Verbal personifications
      • 5.1.1Verbal personifications & gendered attributions
      • 5.1.2Verbal personifications & the role of teammate roles
    • 5.2Verbal objectifications
      • 5.2.1Verbal objectifications, negative perceptions, & dehumanization
      • 5.2.2Verbal objectifications and personifications as non-orthogonal measures
    • 5.3Limitations & recommendations for future work
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
References (74)
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