Can Virtual Identities Influence the Real Thing?
In answer to the headline's question: Yes, they can and they do, says a Stanford professor who's been researching how human behavior is affected by their experience with avatars (you know, those virtual characters you can create online).
Jeremy Bailenson, an assistant professor of communications at the NorCal-based Ivy League school, tells the Chronicle of Higher Education this week that "Our virtual identity is not separate from our physical identity."
The magazine's feature goes on: "As the director of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Mr. Bailenson has explored ways that online behavior spills over to the real world. People assume that, if anything, online activities emanate from offline lives. But Mr. Bailenson and his colleagues have shown the reverse. Their experiments demonstrate, for instance, that people who watch their avatars — cartoonlike versions of themselves — gain weight from overeating are more likely to adopt a weight-loss plan in real life."