designing the virtual self how psychological connections to avatars may influence education-related...
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Designing the Virtual SelfHow Psychological Connections to Avatars May Influence Education-Related Outcomes of Use
Rabindra Ratan & Béatrice Hasler
The ShanghAI LecturesA Large-scale International Field Study
http://shanghailectures.org
The ShanghAI LecturesA Large-scale International Field Study
Avatar Design Choices
• Default avatar (n = 77)• Customized avatar (n = 41)• Personalized avatar (n = 36)
Total number of participants: N = 155 (120 male, 35 female)
Avatar Design
• Default avatar
Definition:Generic avatar; no design choices made by the user
Avatar Design
• Avatar Customization
Definition:The user changes the avatar’s appearance by choosing different attributes (gender, hair style, clothing…)
Avatar Design
• Avatar Personalization
Definition:The user creates an avatar that resembles his/her “real-life” appearance.
Measuring “Connection to Avatars”
1. Self-Presence- Proto (body) SP- Extended (identity) SPx
Self-Presence Questionnaire (Ratan & Hasler, 2010)http://sites.google.com/site/selfpresenceinfo/self-presence-questionnaire
2. Avatar Personality SimilarityPsychological genderx
Diekman & Eagly’s (2000) measure of masculinity/femininity ratings applied to self and avatar
Education-Related Outcome Measure
• Satisfaction with Group Work Processx
5 items taken from Suh’s (1999) Performance Perception Questionnaire
Results (1/3)
• Avatar personalization and customization facilitate identity-level connections to avatars (extended self-presence)
• Only personalization facilitates body-level connections to avatars (proto self-presence).
• Implication: Virtual worlds could be designed to influence identity/body-level connections through avatar design options
Results (2/3)
• Extended self-presence and avatar personality similarity are more strongly correlated (pos) for default than for customized avatars.– i.e., avatar customization reduces psychological
similarity between the user and avatar
Results (3/3)
• Avatar personality similarity and extended self-presence are positively related to group process satisfaction.
• Implication: Virtual worlds could be designed to induce group process satisfaction by encouraging these avatar connections
Conclusion
• Avatar design options matter for education-related outcomes of virtual world use
Thank you!
Béatrice Hasler & Rabindra [email protected] [email protected]