Interpersonal distance in immersive virtual environments

Digital immersive virtual environment technology (IVET) enables behavioral scientists to conduct ecologically realistic experiments with near-perfect experimental control. The authors employed IVET to study the interpersonal distance maintained between participants and virtual humans. In Study 1, participants traversed a three-dimensional virtual room in which a virtual human stood. In Study 2, a virtual human approached participants. In both studies, participant gender, virtual human gender, virtual human gaze behavior, and whether virtual humans were allegedly controlled by humans (i.e., avatars) or computers (i.e., agents) were varied. Results indicated that participants maintained greater distance from virtual humans when approaching their fronts compared to their backs. In addition, participants gave more personal space to virtual agents who engaged them in mutual gaze. Moreover, when virtual humans invaded their personal space, participants moved farthest from virtual human agents. The advantages and disadvantages of IVET for the study of human behavior are discussed.     

Stronger reactivity to social gaze in virtual reality compared to a classical laboratory environment

People show a robust tendency to gaze at other human beings when viewing images or videos, but were also found to relatively avoid gaze at others in several real-world situations. This discrepancy, along with theoretical considerations, spawned doubts about the appropriateness of classical laboratory-based experimental paradigms in social attention research. Several researchers instead suggested the use of immersive virtual scenarios in eliciting and measuring naturalistic attentional patterns, but the field, struggling with methodological challenges, still needs to establish the advantages of this approach. Here, we show using eye-tracking in a complex social scenario displayed in virtual reality that participants show enhanced attention towards the face of an avatar at near distance and demonstrate an increased reactivity towards her social gaze as compared to participants who viewed the same scene on a computer monitor. The present study suggests that reactive virtual agents observed in immersive virtual reality can elicit natural modes of information processing and can help to conduct ecologically more valid experiments while maintaining high experimental control.     

Attachment dynamics in a virtual world

The study investigated the transfer of attachment working models onto autonomous agents in a virtual social environment (VSE). Participants from a community sample (N = 422; mean age = 29 years; mean relationship duration = 4.8 years) encountered three attachment‐related key scenes in a VSE: a separation with a subsequent reunion, a conflict, and an illness. In these scenarios, participants gave instructions to the main character (the “protagonist”), who had a romantic relationship with one of the other agents (the “virtual spouse”). Recorded were numerous behaviors as well as emotions participants ascribed to the protagonist. Generally, participants' attachment styles correlated as predicted with their behavior toward the virtual spouse, with βs up to.42. Thus, the study demonstrates that internal working models are transferred to the virtual relationship. This approach opens new ways to investigate attachment‐related behavior by using VSEs that allow experimental variations of the virtual partner's reactions and other situational variables.     

Immersive virtual environment technology as a basic research tool in psychology

Immersive virtual environment (IVE) technology has great promise as a tool for basic experimental research in psychology. IVE technology gives participants the experience of being surrounded by the computer-synthesized environment. We begin with a discussion of the various devices needed to implement immersive virtual environments, including object manipulation and social interaction. We review the benefits and drawbacks associated with virtual environment technology, in comparison with more conventional ways of doing basic experimental research. We then consider a variety of examples of research using IVE technology in the areas of perception, spatial cognition, and social interaction.     

Virtually True: Children's Acquisition of False Memories in Virtual Reality

Previous work on human memory has shown that prompting participants with false events and self-relevant information via different types of media such as narratives, edited 2-dimensional images, and mental imagery creates false memories. This study tested a new form of media for studying false memory formation: Immersive Virtual Environment Technology (IVET). Using this tool, we examined how memory was affected by viewing dynamic simulations of avatars performing novel actions. In the study, 55 preschool and elementary children were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 memory prompt conditions (idle, mental imagery, IVET simulation of another child, or IVET simulation of self). Each child was questioned 3 different times: once before the memory prompt, once immediately after the memory prompt, and once approximately 5 days after the memory prompt. Results showed that preschool children were equally likely to develop false memories regardless of memory prompt condition. But, for elementary children, the mental imagery and IVET self conditions caused significantly more false memories than the idle condition. Implications regarding the use of digital media in courtroom settings, clinical therapy settings, entertainment, and other applications are discussed.     

EMOTLAB: Software for studying emotional signaling in economic bargaining games

EMOTLAB software creates a virtual social environment in which individuals interact via computer with a virtual interaction partner in a series of economic bargaining games. The virtual partner appears on the participant's computer screen as a digital image (e.g., video or picture file) during each trial. A key feature of EMOTLAB software is its ability to control both the strategic behavior and the emotion signaling behavior (e.g., anger vs. embarrassment) of the virtual interaction partner. By simply editing a series of text files that control the subroutines governing the different features of the experiment (payoff structure, number of trials, etc.), EMOTLAB can generate an essentially infinite number of different social bargaining situations in which participants earn monetary payoffs contingent upon their decisions. This paper provides an overview of this software and how one can edit various subroutines to generate a typical experimental session in which research participants encounter a virtual interaction partner who displays different emotional signals.     

Interrelationships among dependency,empathy, and sharing

The sharing behavior of 66 fourth-grade students was observed in two different experimental situations: (a) in the experimenter's presence (visible sharing), and (b) anonymously (invisible sharing). In addition, measures of empathy and dependency were given to each child. For girls some support was found for a positive relationship between empathy and sharing in both of the experimental conditions; also, moderate dependency, as measured by peer and teacher ratings, was related to invisible sharing. The correlations found among the variables were quite different for boys. Both empathy and dependency, as measured by the Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire, were negatively related to invisible sharing, and empathy was positively correlated to social desirability scores. Also, as indicated by curvilinear analyses, the interrelationships among these variables for boys were more complex than were suggested by simple linear correlations.     

Empirical and modeling study of emotional state dynamics in social videogame paradigms

The objective of this work was to study the dynamics of human emotional states in the process of social interaction in a virtual environment. The previously developed for this purpose prototypes of the virtual actor (NPC) and its virtual environment simulator “Teleport” underwent significant re-design and modification. The experimental platform was re-implemented and used in experiments with college student participants, combining electromyography, emotion recognition in facial recordings and model-based game log analysis in a social videogame paradigm. Participants interacted with two virtual actors implemented based on the eBICA cognitive architecture (Samsonovich, 2013, 2018). Positive correlations were found between eBICA model predictions and participant affects extracted from their facial expressions and facial muscle activity. Affective dynamics of social phenomena, such as the establishment of partnership or an act of betrayal, were characterized and found consistent with the model predictions. Other findings include a gradually developing emotional reaction, possibly due to the integration of appraisals of game events. Overall, obtained results confirm the eBICA model, suggesting its further extension and refinement.     

Predicting depression from temperament, personality, and patterns of social relations

The present study used a levels-of-analysis perspective (McAdams, 1995) to link temperament to depression. We hypothesized a mediational role for three personality variables (Agreeableness, Extraversion, Neuroticism) and two interpersonal variables (social support and negative social exchange) in channeling the effects of temperament. A structural equation modeling approach supported the hypothesis that these three personality variables were mediators of the link between temperament and depression. The patterns of mediation differed for Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism. In addition to the three personality variables, social support and negative social exchange were also found to mediate the effects of temperament. There was no evidence that patterns of relations among the variables differed between males and females. Results are discussed in terms of a levels-of-analysis approach to the examination of the effects of temperament and personality on adaptation outcomes.     

What Can Virtual Reality Teach Us About Prosocial Tendencies in Real and Virtual Environments?

As virtual environments (VEs) become increasingly central to people's lives (Terry, 2002 Terry, F. 2002. New Media: An introduction, South Melbourne, , Australia: Oxford University Press.  [Google Scholar]), understanding reactions to VEs may be as important as understanding behavior in the real world (Yee, Bailenson, Urbanek, Chang, & Merget, 2007 Yee, N., Bailenson, J. N., Urbanek, M., Chang, F. and Merget, D. 2007. The unbearable likeness of being digital: The persistence of nonverbal social norms in online virtual environments. The Journal of CyberPsychology and Behavior, 10: 115–121. [Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]). Immersive Virtual Environment Technology (IVET), which is now being used in psychological research (Blascovich et al., 2002 Blascovich, J., Loomis, J., Beall, A., Swinth, K., Hoyt, C. and Bailenson, J. 2002. Immersive virtual environment technology as a research tool for social psychology. Psychological Inquiry, 13: 103–125. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), can provide greater experimental control, more precise measurement, ease of replication across participants, and high ecological validity, making it attractive for researchers. It also can create links between researchers who study basic social psychological processes and those who study new media. In two studies we examined people's reactions as they navigated through a virtual world and interacted with virtual people, some of whom needed help. Participants' compassion and tendency to experience personal distress predicted emotional reactions (concern) and proxemic behavior (gaze orientation and degree of interpersonal distance) to a virtual person in need but not to a control person. The results support the use of IVET and proxemic variables to measure compassion unobtrusively and they encourage the use of IVET to advance our understanding of people's behavior in and reactions to virtual worlds and new media.     

Social contact,own-group recognition bias and visual attention to faces

The own-group recognition bias (OGRB) has been consistently linked to social contact in theoretical accounts. Indeed, social contact is assumed by most authors to underlie the perceptual expertise of out-groups' faces. However, little is known empirically about how it might impact face-processing strategies. We tested the proposition that social interaction would improve the face recognition performance of another group by modulating visual strategies for different face areas. In Experiment 1, we studied visual processes using an eye tracker during a person's first live encounter with a particular member of their own group (European) or an outgroup (African) to explore how increasing familiarity during a first interaction influences face-processing strategies. In Experiments 2 and 3, we explored the effect of simulated intergroup contact on face recognition accuracy, while simultaneously studying the impact of contact on visual attention strategies that occur during recognition (Experiment 2) and encoding (Experiment 3). The results showed a strong OGRB and a difference in visual processes based on the ethnic group of the targets. Although a single interaction is not sufficient to reduce the OGRB, familiarization during a live interaction (Experiment 1) and virtual social contact (Experiment 2) had an impact on the visual strategies employed.     

Mediating Effects of Material Payment,Social Reinforcement,and Familiarity on Foot-in-the-Door Phenomena in Thailand

Material payment, social reinforcement, and familiarity were examined as possible mediating variables in the foot-in-the-door technique in the Thai society. Female college students in Thailand were randomly assigned to one of the eight possible combinations of the above three variables (e.g., material payment-social reinforcement-familiarity; no material payment-social reinforcement-familiarity; material payment-no social reinforcement-familiarity). At first contact, subjects were asked to respond to a 10-item checklist regarding environmental concerns. Four days later the same subjects were asked to travel a few miles from the college to plant trees as part of an environmental enhancement project. Verbal compliance (agreeing to go) and behavioral compliance (showing up at the appointed time and place for transportation to the planting site) were assessed and analyzed according to the experimental condition to which each subject was assigned. Social reinforcement significantly affected both verbal and behavioral compliance, whereas neither material payment nor familiarity affected either verbal or behavioral compliance. Social reinforcement was concluded to be a mediating variable in the foot-in-the-door phenomenon.     

The relationship of extraversion,neuroticism, and sensation-seeking to questionnaire-derived measures of nervous system properties

Five obliquely rotated factor analyses were performed on items from Eysenck and Eysenck’s (1975) EPQ, Zuckerman’s (1975) Sensation-Seeking Scale, and Strelau’s (1972) temperament inventory (STI), administered to 277 subjects (Ss). The analyses were used to examine the relationships between the personality dimensions E, N, L, P and Sensation-Seeking, which pertain mainly to social situations, attitudes and feelings, and questionnaire-derived measures of nervous system properties, which, while validated on experimental indices of nervous system properties derived from Nebylitsyn’s (1972) model, are expressed as characteristic features of social behavior, work style and activity. Four factors were identified—extraversion/strength of excitation/mobility; self-control of affect/stability/caution; strength of inhibition/verbal control/motor expressiveness/ nonmanipulativeness; and sensation-seeking/nervousness. The results offer support for Eysenck’s claim of some identity between excitatory strength and E, for the reported relationship between E and mobility, and for Eysenck’s conditioning postulate. They also suggest that similar temperamental variables underlie individual differences in both social and occupational/motor activity. Since Strelau’s STI items are validated on experimental indices of nervous system properties, it follows that typological characteristics may be inferred from questionnaire data derived from both behavioral categories.     

The contribution of social rank and attachment theory to depression in a non clinical sample of adolescents

This study explores the relative contribution of the overall quality of attachment to the mother, to the father and to peers (Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment scales), the style of attachment towards peers (Attachment Questionnaire for Children scale), the social rank variables (submissive behavior and social comparison), and sex and age variables in predicting the depression score (Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) on a non-psychiatric sample of 13-18 year old adolescents (n = 225). Results of our integrated model (adjusted R-Square of .50) show that attachment variables (overall quality of attachment to the father and to the mother), social rank variables (social comparison and submissive behavior), age and sex are important in predicting depressive symptoms during adolescence. Moreover, the attachment to peers variables (quality of attachment to peers, secure and ambivalent style of attachment) and sex are mediated by the social rank variables (social comparison and submissive behavior).     

Predictors of motivation to comply with social referents regarding one's romantic relationship

This research examined predictors of motivation to comply with social referents regarding one's romantic relationship. Two variables are argued to predict motivation to comply with the opinions of social network members: (a) social consequences of compliance and (b) perceived relationship expertise. Three studies examined the association of these variables with motivation to comply. Study 1 used survey research to demonstrate that these variables predict motivation to comply. Studies 2 and 3 experimentally manipulated social consequences of compliance and perceived relationship expertise, respectively, providing evidence of a causal connection between these variables and motivation to comply. Across three studies, the results support the role of social consequences of compliance and perceived relationship expertise in understanding social influences on romantic decision making.     

Real behavior in virtual environments: psychology experiments in a simple virtual-reality paradigm using video games

The purpose of this research was to illustrate the broad usefulness of simple video-game-based virtual environments (VEs) for psychological research on real-world behavior. To this end, this research explored several high-level social phenomena in a simple, inexpensive computer-game environment: the reduced likelihood of helping under time pressure and the bystander effect, which is reduced helping in the presence of bystanders. In the first experiment, participants had to find the exit in a virtual labyrinth under either high or low time pressure. They encountered rooms with and without virtual bystanders, and in each room, a virtual person requested assistance. Participants helped significantly less frequently under time pressure but the presence/absence of a small number of bystanders did not significantly moderate helping. The second experiment increased the number of virtual bystanders, and participants were instructed to imagine that these were real people. Participants helped significantly less in rooms with large numbers of bystanders compared to rooms with no bystanders, thus demonstrating a bystander effect. These results indicate that even sophisticated high-level social behaviors can be observed and experimentally manipulated in simple VEs, thus implying the broad usefulness of this paradigm in psychological research as a good compromise between experimental control and ecological validity.     

Variation of the susceptibility to information according to sociometric position and focusing of attention

Studied the effect of social support and increased self-attention on the ways of dealing with information of subjects who were suspicious about the influence of the experiment. All 48 subjects were students from psychology classes who had previously been informed of the processes of social influence. The experimental design was based on two variables: on the one hand, the social support variable, ranging from a strong, medium, weak, to one with no reference at all to social support; the focus of selfattention variable, on the other hand, materialized in the videotaping of half of the subjects. Subjects were asked to make estimates on a number of points. During some of the trials, subjects were given a piece of information consisting of answers supposedly made by other subjects which were in fact their own estimates with a constant number added to them. The experiment has shown that as the social support given to videotaped subjects increased, the subject's confidence in his own estimate increased. This result is partly at variance with the objective self-awareness theory and shows the importance of the subject's artitude towards the experimental situation (‘emprise experimentale’).     

Trajectories of Social Anxiety during Adolescence and Relations with Cognition, Social Competence, and Temperament

This cohort-sequential study examined developmental trajectories of social anxiety in a nonclinical sample (N?=?331, 161 girls) aged 9 to 17 years at initial and 12 to 21 years at final assessment. We tested whether variables assessing cognition, social competence, and temperament discriminated between the trajectories. Variables were collected from different sources: participants, independent observers, parents, and teachers. Using Latent Class Growth Modeling (LCGM) we identified three distinct social anxiety trajectory groups: i) high and changing; ii) moderate and decreasing; and iii) low and decreasing. Multinomial regression analyses showed that the cognition variables, negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations and self-focused attention, differentiated between all three trajectories. A lack of social skills and having social problems at school were specifically related to the chance of following the high trajectory versus the moderate trajectory. Neuroticism differentiated between the low and moderate trajectories. Findings indicate that adolescents at risk of belonging to a high social anxiety trajectory can be discriminated from peers belonging to a less anxious trajectory using both cognition and social competence variables.     

Involuntary subordination and its relation to personality, mood, and submissive behavior

According to social rank theory, involuntary subordination may be adaptive in species that compete for resources as a mechanism to switch off fighting behaviors when loss is imminent (thus saving an organism from injury). In humans, major depression is thought to occur when involuntary subordination becomes prolonged. The present study sought to operationalize involuntary subordination. Study 1 involved a reanalysis of a Gilbert and Allan (1998) study, with the hypothesis that social comparison (i.e., perceived status), submissive behavior, feelings of defeat, and entrapment would load on a common factor (interpreted as involuntary subordination). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported this model. In Study 2 measures of these same variables were administered to a group of undergraduate students. Eight items were selected from each measure (on the basis of item-total correlations) to form the Involuntary Subordination Questionnaire (ISQ). In Study 3 scores on the ISQ showed high levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability in a sample of undergraduate students. Scores on the ISQ were significantly positively correlated with various neurotic personality styles and negatively correlated with variables indicating dominance or mastery. Involuntary subordination scores also significantly predicted change in social anxiety symptoms over 9 weeks. In Study 4 scores on the ISQ were examined in relation to nonverbal behaviors. In men, the ISQ was correlated with behaviors indicating a lack of confidence and submissiveness. Involuntary subordination appears to be a relatively stable trait with implications for personality, mood, and real-world behavior.     

Adjusting researchers’ approach to adjustment: On the use of covariates when testing interactions

A common design in social psychology involves the use of two independent variables, an experimental manipulation and a measured individual difference, and the interest is in the interaction between them. In such designs, there are often obvious covariate(s), correlated with the measured independent variable, which the researcher wishes to control. Typically this is done by including the covariate in the analytic model. We show that in most cases this is an inadequate model. In general, the interaction between the two independent variables will be estimated without bias only when the interaction between the covariate and the manipulated independent variable is included in the analysis. We present simulations showing the factors affecting the magnitude of the bias and provide a survey of recent social psychological literature illustrating the frequency of the problem. Finally, we discuss cases where both independent variables are manipulated and the covariate is a potential mediator.