Depending on whether we hide behind a big broom, or behind Leonardo da Vinci, we would be stronger or more creative. We suspected it, but it has now been proven. It’s called the “Proteus effect.”
Mathilde Fontez, editor-in-chief of the scientific magazine Epsiloon, talks to us today about the effect of our avatars on our behavior. Our avatars are the characters behind whom we hide in video games, and who influence us.
franceinfo: So we would be influenced by our avatars, this is what a new study shows, with an avatar of Leonardo da Vinci?
Mathilde Fontez: Yes, the researchers, a team led by Geoffrey Gorisse, from the Institut des Arts et Métiers de Laval, hesitated. They considered using Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, but ultimately chose Leonardo da Vinci, to test the power of avatars – the ultimate creative genius. The question they asked themselves was: what happens when you put yourself in the shoes of such an inventor?
Does it affect our behavior? Our cognitive abilities? Does a Leonardo da Vinci avatar make us more creative than a basic avatar, an avatar that looks like us? They have just revealed the results of their tests at the international conference on augmented reality, which ended yesterday in Sydney, Australia.
And the answer is yes…
Clearly yes: the participants in the tests who were played by Leonardo da Vinci proved to be much more creative than the others: they generated more ideas, for example, to imagine a diverted use for a terrestrial globe.
On the other hand, they were rather less good in what we call “convergent thinking”: speed, precision, logic. What this study shows is that yes: an avatar is not trivial, it does indeed change our way of thinking.
A bit like clothing can affect our mood?
Yes, or a posture: it has been shown that if you adopt the Superman pose, you will feel more confident. With the avatar, it’s the same thing: researchers think that the character we choose brings with it the stereotypes associated with it: if I am tall, I should behave with more confidence.
A tall avatar makes you more confident?
Yes. And an athlete avatar boosts sporting abilities; a female avatar makes men less sexist. This effect has a name: the Proteus effect. It is very real. And some studies show that it lasts, once we become ourselves again.
This gives researchers ideas for treatments to treat behavioral disorders, with virtual reality for example. And that puts the avatar panels offered by video game publishers into perspective: their design is not trivial, since it acts on us.