Influence of Avatars and Images: are you affected?, page 1

Consider the implications [and] possibilities for social and psychological manipulation... The possibilities are endless...

What does a chosen avatar reveal? Does it influence how you perceive others or how you are perceived? (are you credible, are you intelligent, are you trusted, etc.) With the absence of physical presence and non-verbal communication ques, avatars may provide a means to identify, relate to and evaluate and judge others online and if so, they may have have greater implications for a user, than perhaps one thought.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory posits that people's primary goal in an interaction is to reduce uncertainty about the person they are interacting with. In reducing uncertainty, people strive to understand people's behavior during interactions as well as to predict future behavior Thus, people strive to 'get to know' or form perceptions of others...

...because avatars are a visible representation of a person ... evaluations based on the physical appearance of the avatar may be transferred to them. In other words, people use information related to the virtual image in a process analogous to the one they have learned and used to reduce uncertainty during their experience in natural environments...

...It is possible that the presence of an avatar is a strong social cue that influences people's perceptions, leading them to perceive interfaces as more 'social'. Similarly, how people perceive avatars may influence both the self-perception and perception of others using a particular avatar as well as message perception and retention...

Not only do avatars create a more 'social' online perception, but the 'type' of avatar chosen may directly affect a user's credibility...

...avatars that were more anthropomorphic were perceived to be more attractive and credible, and people were more likely to choose to be represented by them. The strongest predictor of these variables, however, was the degree of masculinity or femininity (lack of androgyny) of an avatar. Further, those images with strong gender indications (either more masculine or more feminine) were perceived as more anthropomorphic than images (whether human or not) without strong indications of gender.

Basically, the findings suggest that people have higher expectations of users with avatars that are male or female (rather than object) and that there may be consequences associated with those expectations...

...it seems that the characteristics of an avatar may at times provide useful, and relatively accurate, information about the person it represents... a majority reported a preference for avatars that were 'like' them, at least in terms of gender. This suggests that users may also want to match other characteristics such as hair color and race, perhaps sexual orientation, or even hobbies...

What are you intentionally or unintentionally conveying with your image?

Did you choose your avatar based on attributes that reflect who you are? Is it possible that your avatar is influencing other peoples perceptions of your intelligence, your likability, your credibility and your personality? Are you using a particular avatar to convey a meaning?

{Hmmm}

*Again, consider the implications [and] possibilities for social and psychological manipulation...





full study here

[edit on 21-10-2009 by LadySkadi]

reply to post by LadySkadi

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very interesting...i picked mine because i like the band tool....

Originally posted by chrisd250
reply to post by LadySkadi

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very interesting...i picked mine because i like the band tool....

wow...

I had flash-backs of my day in the Army as a 55 bang-bang and tried to find this in you avatar:







On topic:

I picked mine because I'm a wannabe...

reply to post by chrisd250

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i like the deftones.

reply to post by happygolucky

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haha dont be going all PTSD on me!

reply to post by Bringer

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It might mean that, yah (or) it might not and think about it, if you aren't a 13 year old kid; wouldn't you want to know if that was the image you were giving off? Could be, depending on how you felt you were being taken online (serious, not serious, do you care, etc.)







[edit on 21-10-2009 by LadySkadi]

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