Avatar Dreams

'Avatars' likely to depict individual's true personality

2010-07-13T09:21:00.001-07:00

'Avatars' likely to depict individual's true personality

2010-07-13 12:10:00

Avatars can portray a very lifelike and accurate depiction of a person's true personality, within the virtual world, according to a new study.

Dr. H. Onur Bodur of Concordia University and his colleagues used the sophisticated avatar-based community Second Life as their model for the study, which has its own economy and facilitates real-money transactions.

The membership of Second Life has increased more than 20 fold between 2006 and 2009 to reach 15 million, and many real-world companies (e.g., Adidas, American Apparel, Dell, Nike, and Toyota) have appeared in Second Life.

Members of the community use particular avatar traits or visual cues, such as attractiveness, gender, stylish hair, or expression ("babyfaceness" is associated with cooperation), to form impressions or opinions about the human behind the avatar.

The researchers argue that well-known psychological principles such as Social Response Theory (SRT) and anthropomorphism come into play at this stage of discovery and discernment.

Bodur's study finds that these impressions, based solely on fairly limited or superficial traits of the avatar, may accurately match the true personality of the real person behind the avatar.

According to Dr. Bodur: "This research, which aligns with other research that says that accurate impressions can be formed through access to very limited information, such as images of someone's dorm room, work space, or website. This and future research can show whether online presentations of consumers (e.g., avatars) can be used to identify and segment consumers."

This study appears in the journal Psychology and Marketing. (ANI)

Source:

'Avatars' likely to depict individual's true personality

Want to find Real Life Love Online?

2010-05-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

":Manifest Your Real Life Romance by Dating in a Virtual World: Created by a couple who met on Second Life, then in Real Life (one going from the US to Australia), got pregnant with their daughter during their first few days together, and are now married. This blog provides links to numerous resources on how to find online love, how to have a virtual courtship, and make it real life, as well as gives updates on love stories like ours."
Want to find Real Life Love Online?

To Get What You Need

2010-01-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

Human motivation is organized around a system of interlocking needs. A person can easily identify the conscious ones. It's those unconscious needs that constitute "the thing." When people become passionate, even obsessed with an activity or person, it is because that activity or person addresses some important desire, often an unconscious one. Psychological health is the fluid expression, satisfaction, and realization of needs - a natural rising and falling of appetite. When needs are suppressed, ignored, diverted, or caught in a vicious cycle of superficial or indirect fulfillment, the result can be pathological fixation and addiction. In psychological health, the conscious realization and fulfillment of needs leads to a more solid, integrated sense of self. In pathology and addiction, the self becomes hollowed out and fragmented.

To Get What You Need

Healthy and Pathological Internet Use

Role Playing

2008-12-18T08:09:00.000-08:00

Mr. Spaight: A couple of years ago, when I was working on a documentary film about virtual worlds, I interviewed a 40-year-old guy who played Everquest. He had an interesting take on role playing. He said, "When am I not playing a role? I play the role of a father. At work, I wear a particular persona that's different than the persona that I show to my wife and children or my friends." It's all contextual.

Alter Egos

How Second Life Effects Real Life

2008-11-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

How Second Life Effects Real Life

Life 2.0

2008-10-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

Spingarn-Koff says the concept of virtual reality as seen in Second Life was purely science fiction when he was in college. There was a notion of a three-dimensional, computer-generated world that people would inhabit, but it was seen as futuristic and infeasible.

Now, with programs like Second Life, he says the idea does not seem so crazy - and the consequences are real.

"It should be approached with caution. It can be a force for enormous good but it can also be a place where people can get in over their heads. I think people need to know that it can have a profound impact on their sense of self and their relationships in the real world," he says. "It's not a game."

Life 2.0

Brain Activity and Feel

2008-09-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

"...you have an avatar. You have a representative that is you and responds to you. You move, it moves. You feel like you're there. Literally your brain will show activity typical of what the avatar is doing."

Second Life Frees Disabled - Article