Wireless Communication Avatars: An Idealized Self-Image

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Worried about privacy issues with using your own picture online? Avatars — imaginary and creative self-representations — are the answer for many. If you want to attract friends, don’t put sunglasses or hats on your avatar, as others want to see your face (even if it is only your avatar face). Create an agreeable-looking avatar, and you’ll generate more friends (Fong & Mar, 2015). Avatars can be chosen as a way to draw attention to yourself, give others a glimpse of your interests, or capture some aspect of your personality (Suler, 2007). Researchers who looked at players in the massive online role-playing game Second Life suggest that avatars are highly controlled information transmitters, well-suited to strategic self-presentation that can be used to communicate any of the selves (Bélisle & Bodur, 2010).

Even if you did not design the avatar yourself, there is some evidence that your self-concept and behavior may be affected by the physical characteristics of an avatar randomly assigned to you; people who were assigned to more attractive avatars self-disclosed more and talked more intimately with others than those assigned less attractive avatars (Yee & Bailenson, 2007). Clothing and posture affect the perception of your avatar; when dressed in a nurse’s uniform and displaying a more open posture, for example, your avatar is perceived as more empathic, less dominant, and more competent (Küster, Krumhuber, & Hess, 2019).

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