Abstract
We explore whether watching the behavior of an avatar created by a user can affect that users’ behavior in the actual world. This research aims to determine if we can achieve results similar to those obtained from an experimental design detailed in Study 3 of “Virtual Self-Modeling: The Effects of Vicarious Reinforcement and Identification on Exercise Behaviors” (Fox and Bailenson, 2009), but using avatars created by observers rather than experimenter provided ones enhanced with a photographic likeness. Fox and Bailenson theorized that the behavioral change elicited stems from modeling the behavior of physically similar people as supported by social cognitive theory. In this study, we focused more on investigating whether people’s own avatars’ behavior would elicit behavioral change based on social-perception theory. Therefore, users observed their own avatars that were doing exercise or not regardless of any physical similarity between the avatars and their owners. The preliminary results showed there was a strong trend for users to engage in physical activities more when they watched their own avatars exercise, compared to observing their own avatars that did not exercise. The results also demonstrated that users with higher body mass index (BMI) engaged in physical activities more when they watched their own avatars with exercise behavior, compared to users with lower BMI. This study seeks to clarify whether or not the notions of psychological reflexivity and avatar ownership/investment are possible factors influencing avatar owners’ behavioral outcomes.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Jensen, S.S.: Actors and their Use of Avatars as Personal Mediators. MedieKuture 25(47), 29–44 (2009)
Vasalou, A., Joinson, A.N.: Me, myself and I: The role of interactional context on self-presentation through avatars. Computers in Human Behavior 25(2), 510–520 (2009)
Fox, J.: Avatars for Health Behavior Change. In: Noar, S.M., Harrington, N.G. (eds.) eHealth Applications. Routledge (2012)
Fox, J., Bailenson, J.N.: Virtual self-modeling: The effects of vicarious reinforcement and identification on exercise behaviors. Media Psychology 12, 1–25 (2009)
Yee, N., Bailenson, J.: The Proteus effect: The effect of transformed self‐representation on behavior. Human Communication Research 33(3), 271–290 (2007)
Jin, S.A.A.: “I Feel More Connected to the Physically Ideal Mini Me than the Mirror-Image Mini Me”: Theoretical Implications of the “Malleable Self” for Speculations on the Effects of Avatar Creation on Avatar–Self Connection in Wii. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 13(5), 567–570 (2010)
Bem, D.: Self perception theory. In: Berkowitz, L. (ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 6, pp. 2–57. Academic Press, New York (1972)
Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N., Ducheneaut, N.: The Proteus Effect: Implications of transformed digital self-representation on online and offline behavior. Communication Research 36(2), 285–312 (2009)
Johnson, R.D., Downing, L.L.: Deindividuation and valence of cues: Effects on prosocial and anti-social behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37, 1532–1538 (1979)
Wolfendale, J.: My avatar, my self: Virtual harm and attachment. Ethics and Information Technology 9(2), 111–119 (2007)
Yee, N.: The Proteus Effect, Health Games Research: Advancing Effectiveness of Interactive Games for Health (2009), http://www.healthgamesresearch.org/our-publications/research-briefs/the-proteus-effect (retrieved)
Paffenbarger Jr., R.S., Wing, A.L., Hyde, R.T.: Physical activity as an index of heart attack risk in college alumni. American Journal of Epidemiology 108, 161–175 (1978)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Morie, J.F., Kang, SH., Chance, E. (2013). The Association of In-world Avatar Investment with Expectations of Behavioral Change. In: Streitz, N., Stephanidis, C. (eds) Distributed, Ambient, and Pervasive Interactions. DAPI 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8028. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39351-8_51
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39351-8_51
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39350-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39351-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)