Seung-A Annie Jin Parasocial Interaction with an Department of Communication Boston College Avatar in Second Life: A Typology Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467 of the Self and an Empirical Test of the Mediating Role of Social Presence Abstract 3D virtual environments (VEs) can induce parasocial interaction (PSI) and strong feel- ings of social presence through interactive communication among avatars. Throughout this research, PSI was operationally defined as the extent of VE users’ interpersonal involvement with other avatars and perception of themselves as interacting with the other virtual actors in the environment. Self-construal refers to an individual’s view of self. Self-construals play an important role in shaping PSI in interactive media environ- ments. After proposing a typology of the self, the experiment in this study empirically examined the influence of users’ interdependent self-construals on their feelings of social presence and PSI with a recommendation avatar in avatar-based communication within the 3D VE of Second Life (SL). The results revealed that people with high inter- dependent self-construals experience closer PSI with a recommendation avatar and feel stronger social presence in SL than people with low interdependent self-con- struals. A path analysis also demonstrated that social presence mediates the effects of users’ self-construals on their PSI with a recommendation avatar in VEs. 1 Introduction One noteworthy current Internet trend is the emergence and exponential growth of 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life, Active Worlds, Habbo Hotel, Gaia Online, VSide, There, and so on. Users of these 3D virtual environments (VEs) can navigate and view settings filled with a wide variety of virtual objects and interact with virtual characters using their personalized avatars. These multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) involve more than one user because the avatars interact with one another. Thus, 3D virtual worlds can convey strong feelings of social presence through avatar interaction, enhancing the sense of togetherness for remote users who are connected through some kind of telecommunication medium (Gorini, Gaggioli, Vigna, & Riva, 2008). This study investigated users’ interaction and relationship with a recommendation avatar (‘‘artificial, computer-animated representations of human interlocutors,’’ Bente, Ru¨ggenberg, Kra¨mer, & Eschenburg, 2008, p. 288, employed to pro- vide information in real time, Jin, 2009a) within the 3D virtual world of Second Presence, Vol. 19, No. 4, August 2010, 331–340 ª 2010 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology *Correspondence to [email protected]. Jin 331 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/PRES_a_00001 by guest on 02 October 2021 332 PRESENCE: VOLUME 19, NUMBER 4 Life (SL). More specifically, this study examined the phe- 2009a), video games (Jin, 2009b; Jin & Park, 2009), nomenon of parasocial interaction (PSI) between avatars and MMORPGs. The key difference between the and how feelings of social presence mediate the effects of disembodied self and the embodied self is that the users’ interdependent self-construal on their PSI with a former is a psychologically imagined or mentally proc- recommendation avatar in 3D VEs. essed self, whereas the latter is a physically manifested or visually represented one. The current study employed avatars as an embodied 1.1 Parasocial Interaction (PSI) form of the self. In VEs, embodiment becomes possible Horton and Wohl (1956) first coined and intro- through either of the following routes: (1) direct visual- duced the term parasocial interaction (PSI) to refer to ization of one’s own image (exact replica of the actual the relationship between media viewers and media char- self), or (2) indirect creation of a virtual avatar. In the acters. PSI, a ‘‘seeming face-to-face relationship between case of direct visualization of one’s real image, one spectator and performer’’ (Horton & Wohl, p. 215), experiences the authentic representation of his or her reflects mediated interaction. What differentiates interac- actual image. This embodiment assumes the form of tive 3D VEs from traditional media is their utilization of direct reflection and is realized through visualization avatars and the interactions among them. In contrast to technologies. Through advances in motion tracking traditional media such as television and movies, VE users and visualization technologies, direct visualization has can actively participate in their environment by interact- become very similar to looking into a mirror. In the ing with other users or virtual performers in the form of case of a virtual avatar, one experiences the para- personalized characters (i.e., avatars). In SL, for example, authentic (which refers to ‘‘closely resembling authentic users may experience and develop PSI with other avatars entities’’) self (see Lee, 2004, for an extensive review (Jin, 2010a). For this study, PSI was operationally and detailed explanation of ‘‘virtual’’; see Jin, 2009b, defined as the extent of users’ interpersonal involvement 2010b, for a discussion about the actual self versus the with other avatars and perception of themselves as inter- ideal self). The para-authentic self in the form of a vir- acting with the other virtual actors in the environment. tual avatar does not share any innate traits with the authentic self, as the virtual avatar is an arbitrarily cre- ated self (Fox, Bailenson, & Binney, 2009). The ability 1.2 A Typology of the Self: The Self- to customize one’s avatar in VEs like SL, however, has Concept in Avatar-Based Interactive blurred the clear dividing line between the authentic Media Environments (real) self and the para-authentic (virtual) self. In addi- Self-concept has become increasingly important in tion to making a selection from a list of given characters interactive media environments (Jin, 2010b). This sec- (thus representing the virtual or para-authentic self), tion provides a typology of the self in new media envi- VE users, leveraging the avatar-customizing function, ronments and its relevance to self-related processes in can represent themselves via a personalized avatar avatar-based communication. reflecting their actual self (thus sharing some innate The first aspect of taxonomy of the self is the embod- traits with the authentic self). ied versus disembodied self. In avatar-based media envi- The second aspect of taxonomy of the self is self as a ronments in which users perceive their avatars from doer versus self as an object of one’s own attention. Psy- first-person or third-person points of view, users experi- chologists have long recognized this duality of the self. ence an embodied self through visual observation. Ava- People can act as a doer of an action, or, conversely, they tar is one form of user embodiment in VEs (Gerhard, can view themselves as an object of their own attention Moore, & Hobbs, 2003). Avatars have become (Brown, 1998). When people engage in interactive 3D increasingly incorporated into a wide range of interac- VEs, they actively participate as a doer (subject) and thus tive media environments including e-commerce (Jin, maintain a high level of control over their actions. At the Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/PRES_a_00001 by guest on 02 October 2021 Jin 333 same time, they become the very object of their own provides practical implications for designing more attention, as the media environment enables the users immersive, engaging, and greater presence experiences. to observe an instant and visual manifestation of their The research question at hand is, What are the roles of physical activity via avatars (Fox et al., 2009). This self-construals in avatar-based VEs? taxonomy resonates with the duality of the self in VEs like SL where participants actively control their 1.3 Human Factors: Interdependent avatars (self as a doer) and observe a visual representation Self-Construals of their own avatars (self as an object) simultaneously. The third aspect of taxonomy of the self is individual Self-construal is an individual’s view of self. There self (private self) versus relational self (collective self). are individual differences in chronic self-construals. Peo- These private and collective selves can be (1) tempo- ple view themselves either as an individual entity or in rarily primed as a situational variable (i.e., temporarily relation to others (Verplanken et al., 2009). Differences accessible due to situational cues); or (2) measured as in self-construals significantly influence how people individual difference or chronic personality factors think, feel, and behave (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; (i.e., chronically accessible and stable; Aaker, 1999; Lewis, Goto, & Kong, 2008). A number of studies Markus & Kunda, 1986). In avatar-based interactive across a wide variety of domains demonstrate that differ- media, the private self dimension or independent ent self-construals are associated with a broad range self-construal versus the collective self dimension or of cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses (Ver- interdependent self-construal can be experimentally planken et al., 2009). For example, with respect to the manipulated or activated (e.g., the primed self as a sit- influence of self-construals on the cognitive or judgmen- uational factor; Jin, 2010c), thus becoming temporarily tal dimension, Gardner, Gabriel, and Lee (1999) found salient (Sinclair & Fehr, 2005). For example, inde- that people with a dominant independent self-construal