Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Reinventing Ourselves: Contemporary Concepts of Identity in Virtual Worlds pp 213–234Cite as

Multiple Personality Order: Physical and Personality Characteristics of the Self, Primary Avatar and Alt

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Immersive Environments ((SSIE))

Abstract

One hundred and four participants, all of whom had multiple avatars in the 3D virtual world of Second LifeTM, completed a set of measures to assess how physical characteristics, activity preferences, personality features, and social-emotional processes are similar or different across various combinations of the physical self, the primary avatar, and the sole or most frequently used alt. Data was also obtained on the frequency of alt use, motivations for constructing alts, and the main forms of identity experimentation engaged in with alts. The combined results were then used to construct a model of how personality systems composed of multiple offline and online identities operate and form a “multiple personality order.” As 3D virtual worlds and the global population of avatars continue to grow, creating and coordinating a system of multiple offline and online identities will increasingly become a normative feature of human development and, like a choreographer managing a company of dancers or a conductor leading an orchestra, the operation of personality will take on a quality of performance art.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Due to a violation of sphericity, a Greenhouse-Geisser correction was used.

  2. 2.

    Due to the violation of sphericity, a Greenhouse-Geisser correction was used for all tests results in this section, except for agreeableness, which did not violate the assumption.

References

  • Amdahl, K.: Secrecy, identity, truth and lies [Web log message]. http://kateamdahl.livejournal.com/7276.html (2006)

  • Au, W.J.: Surveying Second Life [Web log message] (2007). http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2007/04/second_life_dem.html. Retrieved 30 Apr 2007

  • Bessiere, K., Seay, A.F., Kiesler, S.: The ideal self: identity exploration in world of WarCraft. Cyberpsychol. Behav. 10, 530–535 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camigliano, A.J.: Günter Wallraff: b(e)aring the facts. Monatshefte 75, 405–418 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • De Pauw, L.G.: Women in combat: the revolutionary war experience. Armed Forces Soc. 7, 209–226 (1981)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Emmons, R.A., Larsen, R.J., Griffin, S.: The satisfaction with life scale. J. Pers. Assess. 49, 71–75 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Driver, E., Driver, S.: The immersive internet: make tactical moves today for strategic advantage tomorrow. Think Balm. Immersive Internet Analyst Report Series, 1 (2008). http://www.thinkbalm.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/thinkbalm-immersive-internet-report-nov-20084.pdf

  • Ducheneaut, N., Wen, M., Yee, N., Wadley, G.: Body and mind: a study of avatar personalization in three virtual worlds. In: Proceedings of CHI, Boston, 4–9 Apr (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenreich, B.: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America. Metropolitan Books, New York (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellison, N., Heino, R., Gibbs, J.: Managing impressions online: self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. J. Comput. Mediated Commun. 11, 415–441 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erikson, E.: Childhood and Society. W.W. Norton, New York (1950). Revised paperback edition, 1963

    Google Scholar 

  • Foss, J., Gilbert, R.: Alt Usage Questionnaire. Unpublished instrument. Available from the Psychological Research on Synthetic Environments (P.R.O.S.E.) Project, c/o Dr. Richard Gilbert, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S.: A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis (J. Riviere, Trans.). Perma Books, New York (1953). Original work published in 1935

    Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, K.: The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. Basic Books, New York (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E.: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Penguin, London (1959)

    Google Scholar 

  • Goleman, D.: Cyberdisinhibition (2006). http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_5.html#goleman

  • Gosling, S.D., Gaddis, S., Vazire, S.: Personality impressions based on Facebook profiles. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, March 2006, Boulder (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, J.H.: Black Like Me. Houghton Mifflin, Boston (1961)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackobsson, M.: Rest in peace, Bill the Bot: death and life in virtual worlds. In: Schroeder, R. (ed.) The Social Life of Avatars, pp. 63–76. Springer, London (2002)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • John, O.P., Donahue, E.M., Kentle, R.L.: The Big Five Inventory–Versions 4a and 5b. University of California/Institute of Personality and Social Research, Berkeley (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J.J., Hoadley, C. M.: Leveraging identity to make learning fun: Possible selves and experiential learning in massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). Innovate, August/September, 3(6), (2007) [Online]. Available: http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=348

  • Lee, R.M., Robbins, S.B.: Social connectedness, dysfunctional interpersonal behaviours, and psychological distress: testing a mediator model. J. Couns. Psychol. 48, 310–318 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lifton, R.: The Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation. Basic Books, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  • Linden, M.: Key economic metrics through January 2008 [Web log message]. http://blogs.­secondlife.com/community/features/blog/authors/Meta.Linden. Retrieved 22 Feb 2008

  • Marcus, B., Machilek, F., Schütz, A.: Personality in cyberspace: personal websites as media for personality expressions and impressions. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 90, 1014–1031 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Market, T.: Limited psychographic segments and media consumption (Q1 2009) (2009). http://sl.markettruths.com/

  • McKenna, K., Bargh, J.A.: Coming out in the age of the internet: identity “de-marginalization” through virtual group participation. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 75, 681–694 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKenna, K., Bargh, J.A.: Causes and consequences of social interaction on the Internet: a conceptual framework. Media Psychol. 1, 249–269 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKenna, K.Y.A., Green, A.S., Smith, P.K.: Demarginalizing the sexual self. J. Sex Res. 38, 302–311 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papacharissi, Z.: The self online: the utility of personal homepages. J. Broadcast. Electron. Media 46, 346–368 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peachey, A.: Living in immaterial worlds: who are we when we learn and teach in virtual worlds? In: Sheehy, K., Ferguson, R., Clough, G. (eds.) Virtual Worlds: Controversies at the Frontier of Education. Nova Science, New York (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranon, N.: Young women’s use of the internet to explore secret identities. Disser. Abstr. Int. Sci. Eng. 67, 3498 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • Royster, P.: The life and surprising adventures of Mary Ann Talbot in the name of John Taylor (1809). http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/32/. Retrieved May 2006

  • Second Life Herald: Wooot! 100K dormant alts. http://alphavilleherald.com/2005/12/wooot_100k_dorm.html. Retrieved Dec 2005

  • Spurlock, M.: (Producer) Living on minimum wage [Television series episode]. In: 30 Days. FX Network (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinhauer, J.: Woman who posed as boy testifies in case that ended in suicide of 13-year-old. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 20 Nov 2008

  • Stone, B., Richtel, M.: The hand that controls the sock puppet could get slapped. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 16 Jul 2007

  • Suler, J.: The online disinhibition effect. CyberPsychology Behav. 7, 321–326 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, T.L.: Living digitally: embodiment in virtual worlds. In: Schroeder, R. (ed.) The Social Life of Avatars, pp. 40–62. Springer, London (2002)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Turkle, S.: Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. Touchstone Press, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, P., J. Maryott.: The impact of avatar self-representation on collaboration in virtual worlds. Innovate 5(5), (2009). http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=689

  • Young, K.: Internet addiction: the emergence of a new clinical disorder. CyberPsychology Behav. 1, 237–244 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Portions of this project were funded by the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, the College of Science and Engineering, and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at Loyola Marymount University, as well as a private donation by Edward D. Holly.

Portions of this data were presented at the 2010 Summit of the Immersive Education Initiative, Boston, MA.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The P.R.O.S.E. Project, Loyola Marymount University, 1 LMU Drive, Suite 4700, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, USA

    Richard L. Gilbert & Jessica A. Foss

  2. Department of Psychology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, 90293, USA

    Nora A. Murphy

Authors
  1. Richard L. Gilbert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jessica A. Foss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nora A. Murphy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard L. Gilbert .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Eygus Ltd, 69A, North Street, Devon, TQ13 7QH, United Kingdom

    Anna Peachey

  2. Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, United Kingdom

    Mark Childs

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Gilbert, R.L., Foss, J.A., Murphy, N.A. (2011). Multiple Personality Order: Physical and Personality Characteristics of the Self, Primary Avatar and Alt. In: Peachey, A., Childs, M. (eds) Reinventing Ourselves: Contemporary Concepts of Identity in Virtual Worlds. Springer Series in Immersive Environments. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-361-9_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-361-9_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-85729-360-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-85729-361-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation