Workplace rudeness and job burnout may be caused by coexisting with robots, but self-affirmation practices may help reduce worries about being replaced by them, suggests study from the American Psychological Association.

Even in fields where robots aren't used, workers in the United States and some parts of Asia worry about their jobs, according to research. However, lead author Kai Chi Yam, PhD, an associate professor of management at the National University of Singapore, believes that these fears may not be warranted.

According to some economists, robots are more likely to replace blue-collar jobs than white-collar ones more quickly, Yam said. However, it doesn't appear that robots are replacing that many jobs just yet, at least not in the US, so many of these concerns are largely irrational.

Participants' data from studies were examined by researchers in the US, Singapore, India, and Taiwan. The Journal of Applied Psychology online released the findings.

In a study involving 118 engineers working for an Indian car manufacturing company, exposure to industrial robots was associated with higher complaints of burnout and rudeness at work.

A 400-participant online study indicated that self-affirmation activities, in which people are urged to think favorably about themselves and their distinctively human traits, may help reduce workplace robot phobias. Participants discussed values or traits that were significant to them, such as friendship and family, humor, or sports.

Most individuals, according to Yam, 'underestimate their own talents while overestimating the potential of robots.'

Fears of job insecurity due to robots are widespread. The researchers examined information on the use of popular job-hunting websites overall and the frequency of robots in 185 U.S. urban areas (LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.).

Even if unemployment rates weren't greater there, places with the highest prevalence of robots also had the highest prevalence of job recruiting site searches. The researchers hypothesized that although workers in these regions would have experienced greater job instability as a result of robots, there may have been other contributing factors as well, such as people looking for new vocations or being dissatisfied with their current positions.

343 parents of students at the National University of Singapore were divided into three groups in a different experiment. The first group read a piece about using robots in enterprises, the second group read a piece about robots in general, and the third group read something unrelated.

The participants were then polled regarding their worries about job insecurity, with the first group expressing noticeably more employment insecurity than the other two groups.

Some media coverage may be excessively exaggerating anxiety among the general public, Yam added, despite the fact that some individuals may have valid worries about losing their jobs to robots.

People could develop an unjustified dread of new technology because, in the words of the author, 'media stories on new technologies like robots and algorithms tend to be apocalyptic in nature.'