Do patients trust computers?

In two studies, we inquired whether patients accept medical recommendations that come from a computer program rather than from a physician. In study 1, we found that subjects, when deciding whether to have an operation or not in different medical scenarios, were more likely to follow a recommendation that came from a physician than one that came from a computer program. Subjects stated that they would feel less responsible when following a recommendation than when deciding against it. Following a physician's recommendation reduced the feeling of responsibility more than following that of a computer program. The difference in feeling of responsibility when following versus when not following a recommendation partly mediated subjects' inclination to follow the physician more. In our second study, we found that subjects were more decision seeking when they received a recommendation or decision from a computer program, and they were more decision seeking when they had to accept a decision than when they received a recommendation. Subjects also trusted the physician more than the computer program to make a good recommendation or decision. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.