AVATARS AND IDENTITY 1

Avatars: Portraying, Exploring, and Changing Online and Offline Identities

Jesse Fox, Ph.D., The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Ph.D., University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States

AVATARS AND IDENTITY 2

Abstract

Avatars are defined as virtual representations that are controlled by a human user.

Commonly, we observe avatars in video and online games, social networking sites, and virtual worlds. This chapter explores the use of avatars in the expression, exploration, and evolution of users’ identities, both online and offline. Theoretical explanations for the creation, manipulation, use, and effects of avatars are offered, including identification, transformed social interaction, and the Proteus effect. The adoption of avatars for identity expression, exploration, and change is discussed, including Turkle’s notion of fragmented selves and Nakamura’s concept of identity tourism. Research that has investigated the effects of avatars on self-perceptions and identity in various domains (such as health, marketing, finance, and environmental behaviors) is addressed.

Implications and future directions for research in this area are discussed.

AVATARS AND IDENTITY 3

Introduction

The word is adapted from the Sanskrit for “descent,” used to describe a Hindu god emerging from the heavens and bodily manifesting itself in order to intervene in human affairs.

Generically, the term avatar can refer to any representation of a person. Names, online profiles, and dolls can all be considered types of avatars by this broad definition (Bailenson & Blascovich,

2004). Crash, Neal Stephenson’s (1992) science fiction novel, popularized the use of the word as it is commonly understood today, to describe a digital representation in a virtual environment.

Avatars and the virtual they inhabit have transformed our ability to express and explore identity, yielding effects both on- and offline. Avatars enable users to “intersect with a technological object and embody themselves, making the virtual environment and the variety of phenomena it fosters real” (Taylor, 2002, p. 41). Embodying an avatar is a recursive identity process; each time users enter the virtual world, they are testing the affordances of their online selves. The fluidity of virtual representations and virtual environments has encouraged new interpretations of identity. Indeed, Turkle (1995) noted that: “Traditional ideas about identity have been tied to a notion of authenticity that such virtual experiences actively subvert” (p. 185).

Avatars offer a unique way for users to portray facets of their identities, explore their wishful identities, and change aspects of their identities both offline and online. This chapter seeks to explore these processes as well as the theoretical processes that drive these experiences.

Avatar as Self-Representation

Virtual spaces give us the opportunity to selectively portray the self. Whether on a social networking site or an online gaming platform, we use avatars to represent ourselves. Nakamura

(2002) argued that the use of graphical, visual avatars in place of text-based names and AVATARS AND IDENTITY 4 description creates a new domain and social experience online. Even with the freedom to represent ourselves as we choose, avatars require us to make selections on what features we portray and gives others visual substance through which they can make quick judgments (Kolko,

1998). Thus, our avatars are evaluated by the same appearance-based criteria we are first judged upon in offline settings (Weibel, Stricker, Wissmath, & Mast, 2010).

Users may choose how they appear to others in a virtual environment. Sometimes users are limited to an assortment of characters; in other environments, avatars may be customized from head to toe (or horn to claw, depending on the body they select; Nowak & Rauh, 2006).

The mere process of customization empowers the user to make specific decisions on how they wish to appear to others (Boellstorff, 2008; Taylor, 2002). The ability to design and customize an avatar, combined with the time spent using the avatar, leads users to often develop a strong affinity for an avatar (Lim & Reeves, 2009; Yee, 2006).

Commonly, avatars are used to represent people in Internet chat (Kang & Yang, 2006), video games (Smith, 2006), social virtual worlds (Castronova, 2005), massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs; Yee, 2006), virtual reality (Lanier, 2001), and other mediated contexts. With such broad applications, avatars serve many purposes and are often multi-functional within a given context. Taylor (1999) summed their utility, stating that avatars

“facilitate interaction, shape and solidify identity, as well as more generally mediate users’ engagement in the world” (p. 438).

An avatar is more than just a digital image: we use this representation as a conduit for our actions and communication with others in virtual environments (Fox, Arena, & Bailenson, 2009).

Thus, as Taylor (1999) claimed, “The bodies users create and use in virtual spaces become inextricably linked to their performance of self and engagement in the community” (p. 438). AVATARS AND IDENTITY 5

Avatars provide a functional representation to facilitate sensemaking. For example, the nature of immersive virtual environments necessitates the use of avatars as points of reference in the virtual space (Lanier, 2001). Avatars provide an essential, functional representation with which the user can enact virtual behaviors such as navigating virtual space or engaging virtual objects or other avatars.

Avatars may also be adopted as a conduit for identity expression. When selecting an avatar for a virtual world, the user might demonstrate group affiliation, social identity, interests, or personality traits through their choice of representation (Martey & Consalvo, 2011; Taylor,

2002). For example, an alumnus might dress his avatar in school colors to convey team spirit, or a soccer player may equip her avatar with shin guards. Marginalized individuals who cannot express who they are in the real world, such as gay adolescents living in oppressive surroundings, may create avatars through which they can express their true selves (Taylor, 2002;

Turkle, 1995).

Beyond expression, the avatar may also represent a new method of self-realization. By creating a virtual self, it may be possible to become more attuned to one’s real world self. In the postmodern view, the self is not a unitary entity; rather, it is an amalgamation of multiple, fragmented selves. An avatar, or multiple avatars, presents an opportunity to embody these fragmented selves in a process of self-construction (Turkle, 1995). This process of self- construction is not restricted to the “true” real world self, however: many people wish they could adopt others’ inflexible or immutable characteristics. Avatars allow users to experiment with their self-representations, giving them the opportunity to “try on” different identities (Taylor,

2002; Turkle, 1995; Yee, 2006). They can adopt a different sex, gender, or sexuality; a different AVATARS AND IDENTITY 6 class or occupation; a different race or ethnicity; or a different height, weight, or level of attractiveness.

Thus, avatars serve multiple purposes within virtual spaces and may facilitate users online as well as offline needs. The concepts of identification and transformed social interaction provide theoretical explanations for their role in our online and offline existence.

Identification

Identification refers to the extent to which an individual relates to a model and feels that s/he is similar to the model. Kelman (1961) originally recognized identification as one of three processes of social influence. Identification has been shown to increase the likelihood of performing learned behaviors (Bandura & Huston, 1961; Bandura, 1977, 1986, 2001; Schunk,

1987). Observers must feel that the model is similar enough to them that they are able to experience the same outcomes. Similarity may be based on physical traits, personality variables, or shared beliefs and attitudes (Andsager, Bemker, Choi, & Torwel, 2006; Bussey & Perry,

1982; Hilmert, Kulik, & Christenfeld, 2006; Stotland, 1969).

The degree of identification with a model has been shown as an important factor in ascertaining the differential effects of media messages on individuals (Cohen, 2001, 2002;

Maccoby & Wilson, 1957). If users develop or embody avatars with which they highly identify, this identification may augment effects of avatar use. Indeed, some studies have found that avatars that yield high identification have greater effects on users’ attitudes and offline behaviors than low-identification avatars (Ahn & Bailenson, 2011; Fox, 2010; Fox & Bailenson, 2009;

Fox, Bailenson, & Binney, 2009).

It is important to note that the avatar does not necessarily have to resemble or reflect aspects of the current, “true” real world self, however. With the wide range of characters and AVATARS AND IDENTITY 7 features provided in many environments, users may opt for representations that reflect desired or potential characteristics. Markus and Nurius (1986) proposed the idea of possible selves, that is, cognitive constructions of the self that are based on past experiences, future hopes, and current goals and motivations. Similarly, Hoffner and colleagues found that children develop wishful identification selves (Hoffner, 1996; Hoffner & Buchanan, 2005), or versions of ourselves that we wish we could achieve (Suler, 2004). In many cases, we may not have much in common with the warrior-troll-nymph we play as online, but we may identify with certain traits of our avatar.

Perhaps we wish we were more brave, more heroic, or more attractive. Avatars give us the opportunity to embody these wishful selves in virtual worlds. Indeed, Bessière, Seay, and Kiesler

(2007) found that players’ avatars in World of Warcraft more closely resembled the idealized self than the real self. Boellstorff (2008) noted that many users incorporate hoped-for traits or characteristics into the avatars they create in the virtual world Second Life. These wishful selves may also be projected into the real world. Konijn, Bijvank, and Bushman (2007) found that wishful identification with a video game character also carried over into real world interactions; the more adolescent boys wished they were like the violent video game character they played, the more aggressive behavior they demonstrated after game play.

Indeed, how users are represented in virtual worlds may impact identification and the resultant effects on users’ sense of self. Klimmt, Hefner, and Vorderer (2009) distinguish avatars

(specifically those in video games) from other media characters because of the interactivity and control that the user has over an avatar that is not possible with a literary role or television character. Other conceptualizations of this dynamic have described it as dyadic, maintaining that there is an inherent separation between the observer and the observed character (e.g., transportation, Green & Brock, 2000; parasocial interaction, Horton & Wohl, 1956). Klimmt et AVATARS AND IDENTITY 8 al. argue that due to their interactivity and the user’s control over the character, video games create a monadic relationship wherein “players do not perceive the game (main) character as a social entity distinct from themselves, but experience a merging of their own self and the game protagonist” (p. 354). The authors thus define identification as “a temporary alteration of media users’ self-concept through adoption of perceived characteristics of a media person” (p. 356).

They also argue that because of the active and responsive nature of this form of identification, it is most similar in concept to role playing.

Furthermore, Klimmt et al. (2009) proposed that identification is selective and temporally unstable. In virtual environments, characters may be far-reaching and fantastical, pushing the boundaries of reality. Thus, users select specific traits with which to identify. The consequences of these choices may explain differences in effects of video games. For example, if a character conquers a battlefield and slaughters a hundred enemies, a player might choose to identify with the character’s courage, strength, power, aggression, and/or ruthlessness. The traits the user adopts during the process of identification may explain why some users experience increased feelings of aggression after such game play whereas others do not (Anderson & Bushman, 2001;

Anderson & Dill, 2000; Anderson, Gentile, & Buckley, 2007). Indeed, some studies have found a link between identification with violent game characters and aggression (Konijn et al., 2007) and identification with characters leading to stereotyping and hostility (Eastin, Appiah, &

Cicchrillo, 2009). Identification is also noted to be temporally unstable. While playing a game or immersed in a virtual world, the character might experience something that diminishes the user’s experience of identification. For example, a character might make a choice the user disagrees with during a programmed narrative sequence, or the character might lose a battle and appear weak. Thus, identification is a fluid process that can be affected by many variables during an AVATARS AND IDENTITY 9 immersive experience and often impacts the effects of these experiences (Bessière et al., 2007;

Hefner, Klimmt, & Vorderer, 2007; McDonald & Kim, 2001).

In sum, the construct of identification holds great explanatory power in understanding how users may be influenced by their representations. Additional research should explore what individual differences influence the likelihood of identification, such as age, personality factors, or in-game experiences such as enjoyment as these variables have been shown to influence outcomes in avatar-based virtual worlds (Bessière et al., 2007; Hefner et al 2007). Yee (2006), for example, identified motivational types for MMO players which may predict experiences of identification with players’ avatars.

Existing research indicates that the experience of identification with one’s avatar may determine how users respond to various virtual encounters as well as their effects online and offline. Future studies concerning avatars should measure users’ experience of identification and determine its effect on outcomes. This information could assist in the development of more effective prosocial virtual environments such as health-promoting video games or virtual classrooms, which have met mixed success (Baranowski, Buday, Thompson, & Baranowski,

2008; Cheryan, Meltzoff, & Kim, 2011). Avatars may be designed in these environments to promote identification, leading to more engagement, greater learning, and higher levels of adherence to desired behaviors once users are offline.

Transformed Social Interaction and the Proteus Effect

The unique nature of virtual environments also led to the discovery of new theoretical constructs. Virtual technologies enable us to modify interpersonal communication in novel ways that we could not achieve in the real world, resulting in transformed social interaction (TSI;

Bailenson, Beall, Loomis, Blascovich, & Turk, 2004, 2005). According to Bailenson, Beall, AVATARS AND IDENTITY 10

Loomis, et al. (2004), TSI presents advantages over traditional forms of communication in three realms.

First, TSI provides users with the opportunity to enhance their normal perceptual abilities

(Bailenson & Beall, 2006). For example, participants might be able to see other participants’ names, affiliations, or other relevant personal information hovering over their avatars.

Participants can also view an environment from different points in the room through multilateral perspective taking. Second, VEs also enable manipulations of the context of the interaction including time and space (Bailenson & Beall, 2006); participants may choose to “rewind” a conversation to hear part of it again, or “pause” while they collect their thoughts. Third, and perhaps the most relevant to avatars and identity, is controlling self-representation, namely

“decoupling the rendered appearance of behaviors of avatars from the human driving the avatar”

(Bailenson & Beall, 2006, p. 3). For example, identity capture entails obtaining the participant’s image and using software to morph it with other individuals’ images. Blending the two representations gives the other individual some of the more familiar features of the self; the resulting similarity and familiarity breeds more liking of this individual (Bailenson, Garland,

Iyengar, & Yee, 2006).

The Proteus effect is a particular application of TSI in which a user’s self-representation is modified in a meaningful way that is often dissimilar to the physical self. When the user then interacts with another person, the user’s behavior conforms to the modified self-representation regardless of the true physical self or the other’s impressions (Yee & Bailenson, 2007; Yee,

Bailenson, & Duchenaut, 2009). For example, when participants embody attractive avatars, they disclose more personal information and approach another avatar more closely. When participants embody taller avatars, they are more confident in a negotiation task (Yee & Bailenson, 2007). AVATARS AND IDENTITY 11

A similar process involves the use of doppelgängers (Fox & Bailenson, 2010). In contrast to the Proteus effect, wherein avatars do not necessarily resemble the self, doppelgängers resemble users physically, but this self-representation is transformed to behave in a different manner than the user. Emergent technologies have been developed to create virtual humans that bear strong resemblance to individuals (Bailenson, Beall, Blascovich, & Rex, 2004; Bailenson et al., 2008). Through the use of digital photographs and head-modeling software, an individual’s visage may be replicated in the virtual world. Although this transference is not flawless, it creates relatively accurate models of the human form, and the striking similarity gives these doppelgängers great potential as stimuli in virtual realms.

The ability to transform virtual self-representations into something that may or may not resemble the physical self provides nearly boundless opportunities to explore variations of the self. In the online world, we are provided with the freedom to determine what aspects of the self we wish to share.

Identity Expression and Exploration via Avatars

Since the advent of computer-mediated communication, users have been employing avatars to explore different aspects of their identities (Nakamura, 2002; Reid, 1998; Schroeder,

2002; Turkle, 1995). Without the boundaries of the physical body and the constraints of one’s current existence offline, online spaces present the opportunity to create and enact other versions of the self that may not be possible offline (Brookey & Cannon, 2009; Reid, 1998; Webb, 2001).

As Turkle (1995) stated: “The Internet has become a significant social laboratory for experimenting with the constructions and reconstructions of self that characterize postmodern life. In its virtual reality, we self-fashion and self-create” (p. 180). Many perspectives on identity claim that to experience or fulfill a particular aspect of identity, we must perform behaviors AVATARS AND IDENTITY 12 consistent with that identity and experience the social feedback associated with it (Goffman,

1959; Menard-Warwick, 2007). Virtual spaces give us the opportunity to explore these possibilities; given their interactivity and social nature provide the closest approximation to physical interactions (yet mostly without consequences in the physical world), they become an optimal testing ground (Konijn & Bijvank, 2009). As Nakamura (2002) states, “The Internet is a theater of sorts, a theater of performed identities” (p. 31).

When creating an avatar, the user is faced with the decision of how accurate the virtual representation will be to the offline self (Kafai, Cook, & Fields, 2010; Lee & Park, in press). The avatar could visually portray a different sex, race, age, or body type. Through a descriptive profile, interaction, or enactment, the avatar could display an alternative ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nationality, or personality. Avatars may express group affiliations that may or may not match one’s offline groups (Kafai, Fields, & Cook, 2010; Martey & Consalvo, 2011). Users may also create multiple avatars in addition to a primary avatar. These alternative representations, or

“alts,” may be radically different than the primary avatar, the offline self, or other alts

(Boellstorff, 2008).

Taylor (2002) likened the experience of avatar embodiment as a form of role play.

Whether we are trying to play ourselves or a different part of ourselves online, the virtual context is inherently different than the external world. No avatar is perfectly mapped to the self, and thus users must adjust to embody their representation and test its fit to the self, particularly through encounters with others. This process of interacting in a different body, and perhaps portraying and receiving different social cues, may lead to the development of a different version of the self online. AVATARS AND IDENTITY 13

Turkle (1995) argued that, indeed, we are different people online: “When we step through the screen into virtual communities, we reconstruct our identities on the other side of the looking glass” (p. 177). According to Turkle, one reason is that the physical world enacts boundaries and constrains us to specific presentations of our identity. Every individual maintains several roles and aspects of the self which may not fit within the scope of our socially defined identity. For example, if Joe is an elementary school teacher and a reserved husband and father, he may not have a chance to express other aspects of his personality such as aggression and competitiveness.

In contrast to the confines of the offline world, in an online environment a user may develop multiple facets of the fragmented self through his or her interactions (Turkle, 1995). Online, Joe can read teaching blogs and visit forums on parenting akin to his offline identity, but he also has the opportunity to explore his aggressive, competitive self in the context of an online fighting game. Users may also try out or practice facets of the fragmented self online in order to prepare for trying them out in the physical world. For example, a lesbian teenager who is considering coming out to her classmates may create a lesbian avatar and see how she is received in a virtual world. In both of these instances, the online environment offers a method by which different parts of the fragmented self can be expressed.

Online environments also enable users to wear avatars that may be entirely distal from the self. In this way, users may feel they are exploring different lives. Indeed, users may role play in another body simply because they are curious. For example, a woman might inhabit a male avatar in a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMO) because she wants to see what it is like to be treated like “just one of the guys” (Eklund, 2011). Others may explore the costs or benefits of inhabiting another body. A man may select a provocative female avatar hoping to become a more desirable guild member, only to become a perpetual recipient of sexual AVATARS AND IDENTITY 14 harassment and solicitation. An unpopular youth may build an avatar to resemble a favorite teen idol and find herself flooded with friend requests and attention in stark contrast to her offline existence.

Despite some of the positive outcomes of identity exploration, some scholars argue that there is a downside. Nakamura (2002) describes the practice of identity tourism, wherein users try out different virtual representations to “travel” in these avatars, exploring new realms and investigating how they will be perceived socially. Nakamura suggests that rather than developing a deeper understanding or sympathy for the body they inhabit, people reinforce their own stereotypical beliefs by acting as they think the representation’s apparent group would or should.

For example, Nakamura notes the prevalence of white males masquerading as Asian females in virtual worlds, enacting stereotypes about submissiveness and subjugation to others’ sexual will.

The secondary impact is that the avatar then behaves as a stereotypical group member, and thus reinforces those stereotypes when others interact with the avatar in virtual worlds. Thus, when other people encounter the white-male-as-Asian-female who is enacting stereotypes, they will perceive this person as an Asian female, thus reinforcing stereotypes about Asian women.

Groom, Bailenson, and Nass (2009) uncovered some experimental support for

Nakamura’s claims. They embodied White and Black participants in White and Black avatars in a fully immersive virtual environment. After this experience, participants completed an implicit attitudes test (IAT). Outside of the virtual world, both White and Black participants who wore a

Black avatar expressed greater implicit racial bias toward Blacks than participants who wore a

White avatar. Thus, identity tourism may promote negative attitudes toward the demographic group of the avatar one wears. AVATARS AND IDENTITY 15

It is important to note that not everyone who adopts an avatar is necessarily altering fundamental aspects of the self; many are using it to express themselves accurately (Taylor,

2002). How comfortable people feel expressing their true selves may depend on the context. The user’s goals may dictate how they choose to portray themselves. Vasalou and Joinson (2009) permitted users to build avatars for a blogging, gaming, or dating context and found that although avatars were generally self-similar, different features were exaggerated for each context. The dating avatars, for example, were found to be the most attractive.

Another consideration is that like offline groups, online groups also maintain social norms that users may feel compelled to follow (Eklund, 2011; Martey & Consalvo, 2011). The context may also provide cues whether or not the user’s identity will be welcomed or marginalized. Lee and Park (in press) found that racial minorities expressed a greater likelihood to reveal their race in an apparently diverse online environment as opposed to one that appeared to be dominated by an outgroup.

Affordances of the virtual environment may also constrain users’ abilities to express themselves. Kafai and colleagues (2010) explored the adolescent avatar-based virtual world

Whyville. They noted that originally, when users signed up for Whyville, they were assigned a default -toned (i.e., apparently White) avatar. Kafai et al. content analyzed virtual avatar parts that were available for sale and found that non-White parts were relatively rare. Non-White users also reported dissatisfaction with the avatar bodies and parts that were available for use. In essence, the world as a whole limited non-White users’ abilities to portray their ethnic identity through their avatar bodies.

Another contextual issue is whether an environment is nonymous or anonymous. Some virtual worlds, such as ’s dominant avatar-based social networking site Cyworld, AVATARS AND IDENTITY 16 require verification of one’s offline identity before access is granted (Kim & Yun, 2007). If the site requires attachment to one’s physical self, the opportunities to explore alternative identities or aspects of the self are greatly hindered. Thus, the virtual environment itself may constrain or promote identity expression or exploration.

Regardless of the affordances and context of any particular environment, virtual worlds will continue to hold appeal for a variety of reasons. For those who are hindered by social anxiety, a physical impediment, geographical distance, or other conditions that make satisfactory real world conversations difficult, virtual worlds will keep providing opportunities for uninhibited identity expression and social interaction. Others will continue to seek social interaction online because it is more amenable to their irregular schedule, because they do not feel like going out on a Friday night, or because they are bored at work. As long as the Internet provides a haven for socializing and the freedom to choose how we represent ourselves, users will enact identities online.

Avatars as Mechanisms of Identity Change

These processes demonstrate that avatars not only can be used to reflect aspects of one’s identity, but they may also be used to change aspects of one’s identity. These changes may evidence themselves in the virtual world (wherein my fierce avatar may drive me to become a more fierce gamer) or in the real world (when my fit avatar convinces me that I should work out so that my physical body is also fit).

Some research has indicated that, whether consciously or subconsciously, we may adopt characteristics of our online representation. Palomares and Lee (2010) assigned male and female participants either a male or female avatar and coded their interactions. They found that participants who embodied a cross-sex avatar used language that is stereotypically associated AVATARS AND IDENTITY 17 with that sex as opposed to language associated with their own sex. That is, users linguistically assimilated to the sex of their avatars, regardless of their own biological sex. This study indicates that embodying a different avatar may cause users to adopt behaviors associated with that representation. Thus, we may assimilate characteristics of our avatar with our own identities.

Although it may be difficult to improve ourselves offline, by going online, we have the freedom to step up to be better versions of ourselves (Bessière et al., 2007). The Proteus effect suggests that by embodying these avatars in virtual spaces, we may actually influence our behaviors outside of the virtual world (Yee & Bailenson, 2007). Additionally, Bem’s (1972) self- perception theory argues that when we have ambivalent or uncertain attitudes, we infer those attitudes by interpreting our behavior. When we adopt an avatar and develop a persona to accompany that avatar, we may observe our avatar’s behaviors and interactions with others to infer our attitudes or aspects of our identity. Thus, by observing or embodying those better versions of ourselves online, we may actually experience a positive shift in our offline identities.

Research indicates that several domains may be productive for creating positive changes in identity via avatars. Fox et al. (2009) manipulated virtual representations that yielded differential effects in offline eating behavior. Patients with eating disorders have been treated by embodying them in virtual environments such as a kitchen filled with fattening foods and dealing with patients’ emotional reactions (Gutiérrez-Maldonado, Ferrer-García, Caqueo-Urizar, &

Letosa-Porta, 2006). In this realm, avatars may be used to shift people’s self-perception from being an unhealthy eater to a healthy eater.

Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET; Parsons & Rizzo, 2008; Riva, 2005; Rothbaum,

Hodges, & Kooper, 1997) incorporates virtual environments in the treatment of patients suffering from a specific anxiety or phobias. In the virtual environment, patients are gradually introduced AVATARS AND IDENTITY 18 to the negative stimulus in a virtual setting until they become desensitized or are able to cope with their fear or anxiety. For example, socially anxious users may be placed in a virtual setting where they are forced to interact with other people (Roy, Klinger, Legeron, Lauer, Chemin, &

Nugues, 2003) or give a public speech (Harris, Kemmerling, & North, 2002). Embodying an avatar that is able to face and manage fears in an efficacious manner may contribute to the user becoming less timid or fearful person offline.

Avatars may also encourage us to engage in prosocial behavior (Ahn, 2011; Gillath,

McCall, Shaver, & Blascovich, 2009; Lehdonvirta, Lehdonvirta, & Baba, 2011). Observing our representations engaging in positive or negative behaviors may influence our sense of self. If my avatar is constantly helping or healing people in an online game, I may begin to see myself as a helpful person. Or, if my virtual representation is engaged in a negative behavior, I may want to distance myself from that to maintain a positive sense of self. Either way, avatars may encourage us to become better people online and offline.

Future Research Directions: Applications and Implications

The ability for avatars to influence our sense of identity has applications across many areas of research, including health (Fox & Bailenson, 2009), gaming (Konijn & Bijvak, 2009;

Yee, 2006), finance (Ersner-Hershfield et al., 2011), and marketing (Ahn & Bailenson, 2011;

Appiah & Elias, 2009). Much of this research has focused on the possibility of using avatars to deliver persuasive messages and has implications for future research directions.

Fox and Bailenson (2009) conducted a series of health promotion studies that manipulated virtual humans to make them look like the self (doppelgängers) or like another person. Participants were then exposed to these avatars exercising or loitering. The next day, participants who saw their doppelgängers exercising reported over an hour more exercise than AVATARS AND IDENTITY 19 participants in the other conditions. In another study, these doppelgängers and virtual others were shown gaining or losing weight in accordance with the user’s physical exercise. Findings indicated that both showing a virtual representation losing weight as the user exercised or showing the representation gaining weight as the user did not exercise motivated the user to exercise, as long as the representation resembled the self. Fox (2010) found that users’ exercise behaviors were attributable to the degree of identification the user felt with the virtual representation. Thus, future applications must consider how to promote identification with avatars promoting health behaviors if they expect users to imitate these behaviors. These applications must allow users to integrate their offline identities with the treatment through the use of photorealistic avatars that resemble the self.

A recent series of studies found that showing users avatars that resembled the self in the future led them to resist instant financial gratification, preferring to wait to earn more money

(Ersner-Hershfield et al., 2011). These participants also allotted more money towards retirement in a hypothetical financial situation. These “future self” avatars allowed participants to encounter a form of the self they might not have imagined otherwise: their future identity as a senior citizen. As a result, those participants made decisions that would ensure future rewards, showing that manipulating one’s virtual identity may shift their offline behaviors. Future research might consider how these future self avatars may be used to shift users thinking from immediate gratification to long-term consequences of their behaviors. Rather than fearing or dreading the process of aging, we may learn to identify with our future selves in a manner that leads to more productive and healthful decisions in the present.

Another example of identity shift via avatars may occur in advertising contexts. Ahn and

Bailenson (2011) conducted a series of experiments to examine how avatars could be used in the AVATARS AND IDENTITY 20 process of self-endorsing, a new form of advertising strategy that presents the self as an endorser by using the brand. Participants were able to see themselves as well as other people appear with brands or products, and their attitudes and purchase intentions toward that brand or product were later assessed. Using avatars that resembled the consumer to promote a product triggered positive brand attitudes and intentions to purchase the endorsed brand. By seeing the self (identification) use a product and its brand (interactivity), users are likely to cultivate more favorable brand attitude and purchase intention via self-endorsing than by seeing other avatars use other products and brands. Over time, users may incorporate the brand into their sense of identity or engage in self-branding behaviors, such as technophiles who label themselves “Apple people” to express their affiliation to the Apple computer brand. Future research may address how the ability to create virtual selves on brand websites (e.g., uploading your own picture to see what a company’s product looks like on you) promotes identification with brands.

Ahn (2011) explored the effect of embodied experiences on environmental attitudes and behaviors. Participants either imagined cutting down a redwood tree or embodied an avatar as it cut down the tree. After the treatment, participants were prompted to clean up a spill using paper napkins. Participants in both conditions expressed increased pro-environmental self-efficacy, or the belief that their individual actions could improve the quality of the environment. Participants who embodied the tree-cutting avatar, however, demonstrated greater paper conservation by using 20% less paper napkins compared to those who merely imagined the experience. Thus, embodying avatars may lead to more prosocial attitudes and environmental behaviors, promoting one’s identity as a “green” individual.

Given the potential for identity expression and exploration, one consideration is the role that virtual environments may play for children and adolescents. The teenage years are a AVATARS AND IDENTITY 21 particularly trying time for youth as they attempt to shape, stretch, push, try on, wear out, and otherwise explore their emergent identities. Meyers (2009) suggests that online virtual environments constitute a new identity space for children. As Beals (2010) notes, “Virtual worlds have the potential to become one additional environment—like school, home, and the playground—where youth can learn, play, and grow. By creating personally meaningful content, adolescents can explore issues of identity” (p. 45). The crucial issue is to make these online spaces safe from discrimination, predation, and cyberbullying so that these youth and their parents can be comfortable with the virtual surroundings.

Conclusion

The use of media technologies is growing increasingly prevalent around the world; within these technologies, users are finding ways to portray themselves. The more frequently our social interaction occurs via mediation, the more common the use of avatars will become. No matter what the context, whether a social networking site, a video game, or a virtual world, users will rely on virtual representations to express and explore various facets of their identity. Going forward, we anticipate that avatars will become an increasingly integral part of our social existence. What remains to be seen is whether we will be creating avatars, or if avatars will create us.

AVATARS AND IDENTITY 22

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Additional Reading

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York: NYU Press.

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Publishing.

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Terms avatar: a digital representation controlled by a human user doppelgänger: a digital representation, which may be an avatar or an agent, that is designed to photorealistically resemble a user embodiment: when a user feels that he or she is experiencing an environment within a virtual body identification: the process in which an individual relates to a model (e.g., an avatar) and feels that s/he is similar to the model, which may yield social influence and imitation of the model

Proteus effect: a form of transformed social interaction wherin the user’s self-representation is modified in a meaningful way and subsequently the user’s behavior conforms to the modified self-representation regardless of the true physical self transformed social interaction: communication that is modified through the unique affordances of virtual technologies virtual environment: a digital space in which a user may interact with virtual objects