My avatar makes me feel good? The effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self-esteem
The theory of Objective Self-Awareness (OSA) and related studies suggest that embodiment of personalised avatars may induce self-awareness and influence self-esteem. Additionally, the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm suggests that humans may mindlessly respond to computers in ways that ar...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/180111 |
| _version_ | 1811679808841580544 |
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| author | Koek, Dominic Wei Jie Chen, Vivian Hsueh Hua |
| author2 | Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information |
| author_facet | Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Koek, Dominic Wei Jie Chen, Vivian Hsueh Hua |
| author_sort | Koek, Dominic Wei Jie |
| collection | NTU |
| description | The theory of Objective Self-Awareness (OSA) and related studies suggest that embodiment of personalised avatars may induce self-awareness and influence self-esteem. Additionally, the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm suggests that humans may mindlessly respond to computers in ways that are similar to human interactions. Based on those assertions, it is plausible that virtual embodiment of a personalised avatar and interactions with a virtual agent can shift self-esteem. However, those effect on self-esteem have not been thoroughly examined in past studies. To address these research gaps, a 2 (avatar personalisation: personalised vs. non-personalised avatar) × 2 (virtual agent interaction valence: positive vs. negative) between-subjects experiment was conducted using a Virtual Reality (VR) simulation (N =171). Findings from the study showed that there was no effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interaction valence on state self-esteem change. However, the pairwise comparisons present some preliminary indications that avatar personalisation and positive interactions with a virtual agent may facilitate improvements in state self-esteem altogether. Implications of the study findings are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:15:03Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/180111 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:15:03Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1801112024-09-22T15:32:57Z My avatar makes me feel good? The effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self-esteem Koek, Dominic Wei Jie Chen, Vivian Hsueh Hua Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Social Sciences Virtual reality Human–computer interaction The theory of Objective Self-Awareness (OSA) and related studies suggest that embodiment of personalised avatars may induce self-awareness and influence self-esteem. Additionally, the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm suggests that humans may mindlessly respond to computers in ways that are similar to human interactions. Based on those assertions, it is plausible that virtual embodiment of a personalised avatar and interactions with a virtual agent can shift self-esteem. However, those effect on self-esteem have not been thoroughly examined in past studies. To address these research gaps, a 2 (avatar personalisation: personalised vs. non-personalised avatar) × 2 (virtual agent interaction valence: positive vs. negative) between-subjects experiment was conducted using a Virtual Reality (VR) simulation (N =171). Findings from the study showed that there was no effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interaction valence on state self-esteem change. However, the pairwise comparisons present some preliminary indications that avatar personalisation and positive interactions with a virtual agent may facilitate improvements in state self-esteem altogether. Implications of the study findings are discussed. Ministry of Education (MOE) Published version This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Singa-pore, under its Academic Research Fund Tier 2 Grant[MOE2017-T2-2-145]. 2024-09-17T05:44:46Z 2024-09-17T05:44:46Z 2024 Journal Article Koek, D. W. J. & Chen, V. H. H. (2024). My avatar makes me feel good? The effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self-esteem. Behaviour and Information Technology, 2349176-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2024.2349176 0144-929X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/180111 10.1080/0144929X.2024.2349176 2-s2.0-85192362903 2349176 en MOE2017-T2-2-145 Behaviour and Information Technology © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Social Sciences Virtual reality Human–computer interaction Koek, Dominic Wei Jie Chen, Vivian Hsueh Hua My avatar makes me feel good? The effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self-esteem |
| title | My avatar makes me feel good? The effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self-esteem |
| title_full | My avatar makes me feel good? The effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self-esteem |
| title_fullStr | My avatar makes me feel good? The effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self-esteem |
| title_full_unstemmed | My avatar makes me feel good? The effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self-esteem |
| title_short | My avatar makes me feel good? The effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self-esteem |
| title_sort | my avatar makes me feel good the effect of avatar personalisation and virtual agent interactions on self esteem |
| topic | Social Sciences Virtual reality Human–computer interaction |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/180111 |
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