Psychology in Russia: State of Art (Dec 2018)
Gender Diferences in Interactions with Avatars of Diverse Ethnic Appearances
Abstract
Background. Gender diferences exist in almost every aspect of our lives. Individuals have an array of diferent social expectations with regard to behaviors, communication,appearance, attitudes, and social roles, but these expectations tend to be based on whether the individual is male or female. Currently, many social studies have been done with the help of virtual reality technologies. Tey have been efectively applied to the study of many social phenomena such as nonverbal communication, social skills training, social anxiety rehabilitation, etc. Recently considerable attention has been paid to issue of gender diferences during social interaction with the virtual partners, avatars. However, the question of gender diferences during interactions with avatars of diverse ethnic appearances has seldom been studied. Objective. Te goal of this study was to investigate the gender peculiarities of interaction with avatars of diferent ethnic appearances. We used the CAVE virtual reality system to study gender diferences in interpersonal distances which were maintained with avatars. Design. We designed four three-dimensional virtual scenes with avatars of four diferent ethnic appearances. Tey were avatars of Slavic, Asian, North Caucasian, and African appearance. All the avatars were male. Te participants (who all identifed as Russians) were immersed in virtual environments with the help of the CAVE virtual reality system. Teir task was to approach the avatar, present herself/himself in any way they wanted, and give instructions for the work. During the task the interpersonal distances between the participants and the avatars were measured. Afer leaving the CAVE, the participants were asked to fll out a questionnaire assessing the Presence efect. Results. Te results showed gender diferences in how much interpersonal distance was maintained: women preferred to keep shorter interpersonal distances with their virtual partners than men did. Moreover, the results showed the impact of ethnic appearance on interpersonal distances. Women approached the avatars of their own ethnic group more closely and kept further away from the avatars of other ethnic groups. Unlike the women, the men stayed the same distance away from the avatars of diferent ethnic groups. Both gender groups kept equally far away from the avatar of African appearance. Gender diferences were also revealed in the participants’ estimates of the Presence efect. Conclusion. We developed a comprehensive method for analyzing the gender differences in interaction with the avatars, including both subjective (the sense of Presence, semantic diferential technique) and objective (assessment of interpersonal distance) characteristics. Tis method allowed us to assess gender variables during the social interaction using both behavioral and psychological responses. Te same method can be applied successfully to the study of gender diferences regarding other social phenomena.
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