Judged by humans, comforted by machines: How psychological expectations shape experiences and perceptions of AI support.

Abstract

People frequently encounter minor aversive experiences-such as rude interactions or social slights-that, while not major events, can still affect psychological well-being. In this research, we examine how people experience and perceive social support from artificial intelligence (AI) following such experiences. Drawing on mind perception theory, we propose that initial expectations about AI's experiential capacity relative to humans shape how people experience and perceive AI support. A pilot study demonstrates that people have different initial expectations of AI's versus humans' experiential capacity. Across six studies (five preregistered; total N = 3,341), we found that these initial expectations produce two distinct effects: People report lower fear of negative evaluation after receiving support from AI versus a human, which in turn improves well-being outcomes (Studies 1-3), and people perceive AI as exceeding their expectations for empathy, which in turn drives perceived support effectiveness (Studies 4-6). These effects emerged across controlled simulations and real interactions with actual human and AI support givers. Together, these findings reveal that initial psychological expectations about AI's experiential capacity play a central role in shaping the experience and perception of AI support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).