Recent Study Shows how Avatars Affect Users Thoughts

Posted by Sierra Monica B. in Games, Internet, Science on 11 11th, 2009 | no responses

From a recent article published by the University of Texas at Austin we found out that avatars that people are using to recognize each other on the Internet in a funnier way can affect uses negatively. This is the result of a research conducted by a professor at the university and reveals that our self-representations in the form of avatars used in virtual environments can affect our thoughts.

A first study on this matter, led by Jorge Pena, an assistant professor at the College of Communication, showed that using avatars can wakeup anti-social thoughts while inhibiting pro-social thoughts. You can read more about this study in Communication Research December 2009 issue. It was written by Jeffrey T. Hancock, professor at the Cornell University and the graduate student Nicholas A. Merola from the University of Texas at Austin.

There were two experiments involving assigning subjects avatars with physicians, dark or white masks, transparent avatars or avatars with Ku Klux Klan uniforms. Subjects were then asked to write stories about a specific picture, play video games with virtual teams, and later discuss with each other about dealing with infractions.
The results showed that those who used avatars with dark masks or with the Ku Klux Klan uniforms had negative and even anti-social behavior in team collaboration, as well as during writing assignments.

“By manipulating the appearance of the avatar, you can augment the probability of people thinking and behaving in predictable ways without raising suspicion,” explained Jorge Pena. “Thus, you can automatically make a virtual encounter more competitive or cooperative by simply changing the connotations of one’s avatar.”