Mechanisms and challenges of trust building in human-artificial intelligence psychological counselors
10.12026/j.issn.1001-8565.2026.09.04
- VernacularTitle:人-AI心理咨询师信任构建的机制与挑战
- Author:
Weizhong ZHANG
1
;
Rong LIAN
2
Author Information
1. School of Education， Fujian Polytechnic Normal University， Fuzhou 350300， China
2. School of Psychology， Fujian Normal University， Fuzhou 350007， China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
artificial intelligence;
psychological counseling;
human-computer trust
- From:
Chinese Medical Ethics
2026;39(9):1159-1166
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Artificial intelligence （AI） technologies hold broad application prospects in the field of psychological counseling. However， whether an ideal trust relationship can be established between humans and AI psychological counselors to facilitate the counseling process initiates people’s thinking. Based on a comparative analysis of the content and developmental processes of trust in human-human and human-AI relationships， as well as stemming from two processes of initial expectation formation and process experience confirmation in the development of human-AI psychological counselor trust relationships， this study explored the content and process of human-AI trust， as well as the experiential and behavioral cues that influence its development. Among these， mechanical attribute heuristics， moral heuristics， and the “black box” heuristic constituted critical experiential factors in constructing initial technical trust of human-AI， whereas agent morphological cues， anthropomorphic cues， and interactive behavioral cues represented core experiential factors for trust development. Nevertheless， trust building in human-AI psychological counselors still faces the dual challenges of capability misjudgment and fragile emotional connection. Future research should focus on exploring explainable AI systems， improving legal and ethical frameworks， and strengthening the emotional bond in human-computer collaboration by enhancing AI’s empathic expression and contextual adaptability.
