Avatars with open eyes, smiles, and brown hair (right) were more likely to elicit friendship intentions from the judging party. If an avatar had any expression besides a smile, had their eyes covered, or black hair (left) then they were less likely to elicit friendship intentions.
Judging someone’s personality is no easy task, especially when all you can see is an avatar and not the real person. However, new research suggests that people can make some accurate personality judgements after seeing customized avatars, at least for some people.
The researchers found that outgoing and sociable individuals typically create avatars that communicate those personality traits. This is in contrast to individuals with high levels of neuroticism who tend to create avatars that do not communicate their less open personality. Also, avatars created by women were perceived to be more open and contentious.
In the study one group of participants created their own avatars, which were then viewed and judged by a second group. The second group judged the first group on five major personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
An avatar is a figure or icon, usually a character of some sort, used to represent an individual in online games, chat forums, and some forms of social media.
Article available upon request.
Original research paper published by Society For Personality And Social Psychology on January 9, 2015.
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