‘Avatars’ can make us better people - study
Fascination with the blockbuster 3-D film “Avatar” has fans tuning
into real-world research indicating that virtual selves can inspire
people to lead better lives.
Since the release of the film, interest has surged in a Stanford
University Virtual Human Interaction Lab study showing that avatars,
animated versions of people, act as powerful role models.
“It is getting so hot right now,” study author Jesse Fox told AFP on
Thursday. “James Camerons’s ‘Avatar’ movie is out so our website hits
have just spiked.”
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A scene
from Avatar |
People immersed in virtual worlds where animated characters mirroring
their true looks were shown running were more likely to play sports,
run, or work out at a gym in the following 24 hours, according to the
study.
Subjects that got to see their avatars loitering about were prone to
imitate that behavior in the real world, the research showed.
The key to the study was using pictures of subjects to make avatars
appear as much like them as possible, according to Fox.
“The more the model looks like you, the stronger the effects will be
and the more likely you are to imitate it,” said the researcher, who is
working on a doctorate at Stanford.
Study participants wore specially designed helmets with view screens
that gave them the illusion of being in a room with an animated version
of themselves.
“If they saw a person they didn’t know, they weren’t motivated to
exercise. But if they saw themselves, they exercised significantly
more,” Fox said.
Men that saw their avatars grow thinner by snacking on carrots toward
healthier eating, while those that watched their virtual selves gorge on
candy hankered for sweet treats.
Paralleling behavior in the real world, women that saw avatars “chow
down” tended to be dissuaded from eating while men ate more, according
to Fox.
People were much less inclined to imitate “virtual others.”
“To some extent there is a mental meld that occurs — people seeing
themselves in the avatar and taking a part of the avatar away with
them,” Fox said. “It creates an instant bond that taps into something
unconscious.”
Technology can be used to create virtual behavior models for people,
according to the researcher, who worried about how this will play out as
videogames increasingly let people personalize on-screen characters.
“If all it takes is five minutes of exposure in an immersive virtual
world to one character, we really have to ask ourselves about exposures
and interactions in videogames like ‘Grand Theft Auto’,” Fox said.
The videogame features scantily clad women and players get options to
beat, rob, or kill prostitutes.
Protagonists in role-playing adventure videogames, however, are often
heroes defying fearsome odds for a greater good such as saving the
world.
Fox’s research was backed by a grant from the US National Science
Foundation and the results were first published last year.
Despite the surge in interest “Avatar” has sparked in her research,
Fox admitted she hasn’t seen the film.
“I have a line between my work and my play,” Fox said. “Seeing the
movie is on my list of things to do when my dissertation is done.”
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 25, 2010 (AFP)
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