The field of Human-Robot Interaction lies at the intersection of several disciplines, and is rightfully perceived as a prime interface between engineering and social sciences. In particular, we entertain close ties with social and developmental psychology. Examples of building upon classic results from psychology to explore the intricacies of human-robot interaction are countless; the methodologies and insights that psychology brought to HRI are invaluable.

This article discusses, however, the less positive side of this ‘love affair’. Building on failed attempts to replicate well-accepted experiments on social facilitation, we discuss our possible over-reliance and somewhat blind acceptance of classic results in psychology. Firstly, we suggest that the Human-Robot Interaction community should transform the ‘love affair’ with psychology into a regular ‘business relationship’, and secondly that our research field does not need to shy away from developing its own reference tasks.