Jan 18, 2011 ... Personality, Sex roles and Identification in online Avatar Gender ... to suggest that
gender swapping is a common component of Internet avatar ...
EHSE120 – UTROP Project Supervisor Application
Undergraduate Training and Research Opportunities Program
Project Supervisor Application This Application Form should be completed after reading the UTROP Requirements. Please note: when completing this form, please bear in mind that the descriptive text will be placed on the UTROP web site and therefore should not contain any material which could be considered of a sensitive nature. Name:
Dr. Jon-Paul Cacioli
School:
Health
Telephone:
08 8946 6818
Email address:
[email protected]
TS CRC Partner Organisation:
Yes
Project title:
Personality, Sex roles and Identification in online Avatar Gender Selection
Area of research:
Psychology
Is Ethics approval required:
Yes
If Yes, has Ethics approval been granted: (Projects will not be allocated until approval has been granted)
Yes No Submitted for 23 April Ethics meeting, made minor changes, have contacted ethics and waiting for confirmation of approval.
Project commencement date:
15 October, 2012
Please list the selection criteria for this project, eg:
Third year student in psychology
Drivers licence Pre-requisite units of study Other skills
No
No rd
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Duration (hours):
100hours
Ability to use the statistical package SPSS
Please provide a brief description of the following: Project background: Avatars are digital constructs in which users are able to represent themselves on the Internet. Due to the user’s control over the avatar’s attributes, and the anonymity of the user, the avatar offers a unique ability to represent or recreate an identity in a social context (Vasalou & Joinson, 2009; Bessiere et al.; Kafai, Fields & Cook, 2007; Trepte & Reinecke, 2010). This digital persona allows for virtual world socialisation with other individuals, also represented by avatars. Users often invest large amounts of time into developing their avatar and a personality for it and they can feel high levels of psychological connection with it (Bessiere, Seay, & Kiesler, 2007). This connection might be such that the benefits derived from the avatar’s attributes, such as height and self-confidence, have a flow-on effect on real world functioning (Yee & Bailenson, 2007). The re-creation of an identity provided by the avatar allows for the exploration of roles and identity play with other users’ avatars the type of which may be more difficult, or impossible, in real world settings. Furthermore the avatar may even act as a compensatory mechanism for perceived real world failings (Trepte & Reinecke).There is evidence to suggest that gender swapping is a common component of Internet avatar use. In Second Life, an online virtual
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Faculty of Engineering, Health, Science & the Environment PG&R Studies
18 January, 2011
environment where users can interact with each other through the use of avatars, 14% of men and 4% of women chose to create avatars that are opposite in gender (Rymaszewski et al., 2007). Reasons for avatar gender swapping have been explored to some extent. Griffiths, Davies and Chappell (2004) stated that being perceived as a female in what is a male dominated environment brings positive social attributes with it. Trepte, Reinecke and Behr (2009) demonstrated that males and females often choose avatar gender based on the perceived requirements of the game, for example more ‘masculine’ games will tend to lead to the creation of more masculine avatars by both genders and vice versa. The drawback with their study was the lack of ecological validity as participants created avatars in the study when presented with a description of a game. The participants’ actual avatars with which they normally engage were not studied. While there is some evidence that personality factors are predictors of avatar gender swapping (Dunn & Guadagno, 2012) it is not known if discrepancy between real world and digital world sex roles has a negative or positive impact on individuals. Neither is it known if any compensatory factors are involved in avatar gender selection, such as due to actual, ideal and ought (or expected) real world sex roles. Self-discrepancy theory (Higgans, 1987) proposed that the larger the discrepancy between the individual’s actual self and what the individual perceives as their ideal self and their ought self (perceptions of others expectations of me), the greater the negative psychosocial consequences. The factors that lead to men and women to choose avatars of the opposite gender still require further exploration. It might be that the avatar is created to meet the individual’s ideal or ought self rather than their actual self in terms of sex roles. While it is known that the use of avatars can affect real world psychosocial functioning, it is not known whether gender swapping with avatars has any effects on depression, anxiety, stress and self-esteem for the user. References: Bessiere, K., Seay, A. F., & Kiesler, S. (2007). The ideal elf: Identity exploration in the World of Warcraft. Cyberpsychology and Behaviour, 10(4), 530-535. Dunn, R.A. & Guadagno, R.E. (2012). My avatar and me – Gender and personality predictors of avatar-self discrepancy. Computers in Human Behaviour, 28, 97-106. Griffiths, M.D., Davies, M.N.O., & Chappell, D. (2004). Demographic factors and playing variables in online computer gaming. CyberPsychology & Behaviour, 7, 487-495. Kafai, Y.B., Fields, D.A., & Cook, M. (2007). Your second selves: Resources, agency, and constraints in avatar designs and identity play in a teen virtual world. Paper presented at the Situated Play, DiGRA 2007 Conference, Tokyo. Rymaszewski, M., Wagner, J.A., Wallace, M., Winters, C., Ondrejka, C., & Batstone-Cunningham, B. (2007). Second life the official guide. New Jersey, NJ: Wiley. Trepte, S., & Reinecke, L. (2010). Avatar creation and video game enjoyment. Effects of life-satisfaction, game competitiveness and identification with the avatar. Journal of Media Psychology, 22(4), 171-184. Trepte, S., Reinecke, L., & Behr, K.-M. (2009). Creating virtual alter egos or superheroines? Gamers’ strategies of avatar creation in terms of gender and sex. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, 1(2), 52–76. Vasalou, A., & Joinson, A.N. (2009). Me, myself and I: The role of interactional context on self-presentation through avatars. Computers in Human Behaviour, 25, 510-520. Yee, N. & Bailenson, J.N. (2007) The proteus effect: The effect of transformed self-representation on behaviour. Human Communication Research, 33(7), 271-290.
Objectives: It is the objective of this study to understand better the effects of avatar gender selection on real world psychosocial factors. It is hypothesised that: - individuals with a discrepancy between real and ought gender roles demonstrate lower levels of self esteem - individuals with a discrepancy between real and avatar gender roles demonstrate lower levels of self esteem -- individuals with a discrepancy between real and ought gender roles demonstrate higher levels of depression, stress and anxiety - individuals with a discrepancy between real and avatar gender role demonstrate higher levels of depression, stress and anxiety - Personality and avatar identification moderates this effect. - Personality will be a predictor of avatar gender selection. State precisely what duties the student will undertake: The student will be involved in a collaborative research project. The student’s duties will be primarily regarding: - Entry of data into SPSS - Assisting the supervisor with some basic analysis of data and data cleaning. This will be led by the supervisor and primarily be to assist the student in their learning.
- Assisting the supervisor with updating the study’s literature review prior to publication. The student will assist in finding articles relevant to project. This will contribute to student’s understanding of the theories relating to this project and provide a basis for future literature searches. Methods: One hundred and fifty male participants and one hundred and fifty female participants will be recruited from the CDU student body and via online forums and social networking sites. The study will be in an online questionnaire format, with Plain Language Statement and Consent page preceding it. Participants must be over 18 years of age, fluent in written English and use an internet based avatar. Participants will be required to complete demographic information, relating to their age, gender and location as well as answer questions relating to the frequency and duration of their avatar and internet use. Participants will also be required to complete: -
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (10 items) (Rosenberg, 1965) for both themselves and their avatar.
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The Personal Attributes Questionnaire (21 Items) (Spence, Helmreich & Stapp, 1973) for themselves, their avatar and their ought self (how they feel they are expected to be in society).
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DASS 21 (21 Items) (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995).
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HEXACO Personality Inventory – Revised (60 Items) (Ashton & Lee, 2009)
A scale which measures participant identification with their avatar will also be employed as well as some qualitative questions regarding avatar gender swapping.
Project schedule: th
The student will be required for 10 hours per week commencing 15 October 2012 for 10 weeks (100 Hours). Resources (to be provided): -
Training in literature searches
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Instruction in the use and psychometric properties of psychological test materials for data entry
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Access to SPSS for data analysis
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Training in relevant research methodology.
Expected benefits for the student: The student will be given the opportunity to apply and develop their knowledge in conducting an actual research project. The supervisor will remain the lead investigator and be conducting the majority of the work but the student will assist and be supervised. The student will gain experience and further knowledge in: - Participant Recruitment - Research Design - Data collection - Data entry - Statistical analysis methods and SPSS - Data Interpretation - Conducting Literature Reviews - Understanding psychological research The student will also have the opportunity for joint authorship of presentations and publications arising from this project. Forward completed form to: Email:
[email protected] (please include the word “UTROP” in the subject box on your email)
Mail:
UTROP Co-ordinator PGResearch Office Faculty of EHSE Blue 4.1.12 Charles Darwin University Ellengowan Drive DARWIN NT 0909
