Effect of Virtual Avatars On Real-Life Behavior

Betsy Carroll writes "The Stanford research group on virtual teams discusses how the appearance of one's avatar in virtual worlds has an effect on real life behavior in an NPR interview. The researcher they speak with focuses on the concept of vicarious reinforcement for changing behavior. They also talk a bit about identity issues surrounding the avatar and the 'real' physical self."

Comments

Re:RTFA!!!

[TubeSteak]

I LTFA and it boils down to visualization therapy (they call it 'vicarious reinforcement'). If you 'see' yourself as thinner in VR then you will be more likely to become thinner IRL. They also talk about how picking an attractive avatar leads to more confidence in the real world an hour later.

I'm pretty sure that's called "priming". Like in all those self help books that tell you to look into a mirror and say "I'm a winner, I'm beautiful, I'm good at math, etc." And it really does work.

Re: Crossing Fingers

[Anonymous Coward]

Not enough people are mean enough to reverse-mod you. Yes, we are. I just didn't have mod points right now.

Re:Look no further than LARPers

[Phrogman]

There are the D&D players who eventually get into Wicca and other "majik" kind of stuff to the point where they believe that they can cast spells and talk to spirits...

Or possibly, you know, they might develop an interest in a bona-fide religion, whatever you may personally think of it. Are you suggesting that if someone plays a Cleric in AD&D they are suddenly going to become a rabid Christian fanatic? (Oh maybe not, I forgot that D&D used the trappings of Christian beliefs and religious organizations but didn't actually include the Christian Mythos in Deities and Demigods)

Overall thats a pretty fucking obnoxious attitude to hold in my opinion. Sure, Wicca and other Pagan religions may seem odd or even silly to you, but to many thousands of people they are quite valid as religious beliefs and sincerely held. Me, personally, I think that many members of Christianity believe some utterly whacko things, but its their right to believe what they want so long as it doesn't adversely impact others. Freedom of religion and all that.

Yes I am Wiccan, but believe it or not I became interested in it long before D&D even existed, and years before I started playing it in University :P.

The best way to get rid of these stereotypes is to stop perpetuating them

Now as to the LARPERs, well those guys are batshit crazy so I agree with you there :)

Here are some good reading links

[DocJohn]

Here are the projects the researcher is talking about in the interview:

http://vhil.stanford.edu/projects/

Avatars and Behavioral Modeling

Virtual reality enables us to create a powerful and persuasive stimulus: the virtual self. Using digital photographs, we can create avatars that have a striking resemblance to the self. We can then manipulate the virtual self in myriad ways that would be difficult or even impossible in the real world. The virtual self can modify its appearance or perform a behavior that the real self cannot, thus serving as a novel type of model. According to social cognitive theory, models can be valuable stimuli for encouraging the imitation of particular behaviors. Thus, we are investigating how using self-models and virtually manipulating social cognitive constructs such as identification, self-efficacy, and vicarious reinforcement can influence imitation, particularly in the context of health and consumer behaviors. Is seeing the virtual self engage in a healthful activity more or less effective than a virtual other? When an avatar shows positive benefits of using a product in the third person, does the consumer then go out and buy that product? Can behaviors be encouraged by seeing the virtual self model health-related rewards and punishments such as weight loss, weight gain?

The Proteus Effect

Cyberspace grants us great control over our self-representations. At the click of a button, we can alter our gender, age, attractiveness, and skin tone. But as we choose our avatars online, do our avatars change us in turn? In a series of studies, we've explored how putting people in avatars of different attractiveness or height change how they behave in a virtual environment.

Out of the three links to "research" provided, only one links to an actual published paper (the other two are to research papers not in peer reviewed journals).

So, yeah, in a lab with undergraduate students, some of this stuff may be true. Out in the real world, with real adults working 9 to 5 jobs, with family and kids, maybe not so much....