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The Proteus Effect: Behavioral Modification Via THE PROTEUS EFFECT: BEHAVIORAL MODIFICATION VIA TRANSFORMATIONS OF DIGITAL SELF-REPRESENTATION A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND THE COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE STUDIES OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Nick Yee June 2007 © Copyright by Nick Yee 2007 All Rights Reserved ii I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______________________________ (Jeremy Bailenson) Principal Adviser I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______________________________ (Daniel Schwartz) I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______________________________ (Clifford Nass) I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______________________________ (Byron Reeves) iii THE PROTEUS EFFECT: BEHAVIORAL MODIFICATION VIA TRANSFORMATIONS OF DIGITAL SELF-REPRESENTATION Nick Yee, Ph.D. Stanford University, 2007 Adviser: Jeremy Bailenson Digital media allows us to make both dramatic and subtle changes to our self- representations with an ease not available elsewhere. These changes can greatly affect how we interact with others in virtual environments. For example, facial and behavioral mimicry can make us more likeable and persuasive. In addition to gaining social advantages, our avatars (digital representations of ourselves) can also change how we behave. This occurs via conforming to expected behaviors of the avatar - a process referred to as the Proteus Effect. I conducted a series of four pilot studies that explore the Proteus Effect. In the first study, I found that participants in attractive avatars walked closer to and disclosed more information to a stranger than participants in unattractive avatars. In the second study, I found that participants in taller avatars negotiated more aggressively in a iv bargaining task than participants in shorter avatars. In the third study, I demonstrated that the Proteus Effect occurs in an actual online community. And in the final study, I showed that the Proteus Effect persists outside of the virtual environment. Placing someone in a taller avatar changes how they consequently negotiate in a face-to-face setting. The two dissertation studies extended these pilot studies by attempting to clarify the underlying process that leads to the Proteus Effect. In the first dissertation study, I isolated and teased out the unique contribution of the Proteus Effect from an alternative explanation - priming. Priming is a process whereby visual stimulus (such as words or photographs) leads someone to behave in a semantically-consistent manner. In the second dissertation study, I extrapolated from existing theories of stereotype formation to examine the consequences of placing users in implausible bodies that fall outside the range of normal human variation (such as a very short or very tall body). Approved for publication: By: ___________________ For Department of Communication v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1 REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SELF..........................................................................3 Transformations of the Self........................................................................................5 Transformed Social Interaction (TSI) ......................................................................10 PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF SELF TRANSFORMATION..............12 Gaining Social Advantage........................................................................................13 Attitude Modification ...............................................................................................18 BEHAVIORAL MODIFICATION..............................................................................22 Behavioral Confirmation..........................................................................................23 Self-Perception Theory and Deindividuation Theory ..............................................24 The Proteus Effect ....................................................................................................26 PILOT STUDIES .........................................................................................................28 Overview of Pilot Studies.........................................................................................28 Pilot Study One: Attractiveness Manipulation.........................................................29 Pilot Study Two: Height Manipulation ....................................................................37 Pilot Study Three: Generalizability to Natural Setting.............................................42 Pilot Study Four: Transfer to Face-to-Face Interactions ..........................................46 Limitations and Areas for Future Study ...................................................................50 DISSERTATION STUDY ONE: RULING OUT BEHAVIORAL ASSIMILATION52 Introduction ..............................................................................................................52 Method......................................................................................................................59 Results and Discussion.............................................................................................66 DISSERTATION STUDY TWO: CATEGORIZATION OF IMPLAUSIBLE BODIES........................................................................................................................71 Introduction ..............................................................................................................71 Pretest .......................................................................................................................81 Method......................................................................................................................89 Results & Discussion................................................................................................91 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................97 Summary of Findings ...............................................................................................97 vi Limitations and Future Directions..........................................................................100 Implications ............................................................................................................102 REFERENCES...........................................................................................................105 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations of Attractiveness Ratings for Avatar Faces.31 Table 2. The Means and Standard Deviations of Interpersonal Distance and Split One across Height Conditions......................................................................................41 Table 3. Average Attractiveness and Height Ratings of Races in World of Warcraft. 44 Table 4. Top Five Codes for Blacks Among the Two Coders. ....................................85 Table 5. Average Stereotype Strength for All 12 Social Categories............................86 Table 6. Top 10 Stereotype Traits Associated with Social Groups in the Height Conditions.............................................................................................................87 Table 7. Means and Standard Deviations of Generative Difficulty and Perceived Consistency of Each Category..............................................................................88 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. A Framework for Representations of Human Beings.....................................5 Figure 2. Categories of Transformations in the Physical World....................................7 Figure 3. Examples of Avatar Icons...............................................................................8 Figure 4. Example of Avatar Customization Panel in Second Life. ..............................9 Figure 5. Examples of Customization Choices in the Online Social World Meez.com.9 Figure 6. Examples of Avatars Created in the Online Game City of Heroes...............10 Figure 7. Faces Used in Study......................................................................................31 Figure 8. Equipment Setup...........................................................................................34 Figure 9. Profile Entry Page of Mock Dating Website. ...............................................63 Figure 10. Partner Selection Page of Mock Dating Website........................................64 Figure 11. Partner Choice by Attractiveness and Presentation Conditions..................67 Figure 12. Reported Height Difference by Attractiveness and Presentation Conditions. ..............................................................................................................................68 Figure 13. Distance from Confederate by Attractiveness and Presentation Conditions. ..............................................................................................................................69
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