Abstract
The study's objective was to examine the effects of gender, personality traits, and self-views on self-representation through avatars. The importance users attach to self-attributes was also taken into account. The target group was 268 university students. Data for both self- and avatar-attributes were collected using the short version of the Self-Attributes Questionnaire and the users' personality was assessed using the Greek version of the 50-item International Personality Item Pool. The results indicated that the avatars depicted "better" versions of their creators, with females focusing on intellectuality and males focusing on attractiveness. Neurotics and introverts created more socially skilled avatars than themselves. Neurotics also amplified their avatars' attractiveness, whereas extroverts' exaggerated their athletic abilities. Additionally, the avatars of individuals high in openness were more intellectually gifted than themselves, while individuals low in openness created avatars more athletic than themselves. The inclusion of the importance of self-attributes allowed gender differences to emerge and highlighted differences in personality traits. The study's implications are also discussed.
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Fokides, E. My avatar and I. A study on avatars, personality traits, self-attributes, and their perceived importance. J Ambient Intell Human Comput 12, 359–373 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-020-01977-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-020-01977-1