Academic Study On Gender and Self-Perception Using Avatar Customization

Take a look at the photos at left, and the trio of avatars surrounding them. Using Second Life's avatar adjustment sliders, three people were challenged to create an avatar resembling the photo: a man, a woman, and the subject herself. Can you guess who created which avatar? And which of the four (photo included) is the most physically attractive?

That's the intriguing challenge in a study conducted by a University of Pennsylvania student, which comes to us via FlipperPA Peregrine. These images are taken from an online survey associated with the project, which you can take here. (Be warned, it's about a dozen entries long, and the correct answers aren't revealed at the end.) Because SL's default tools are so rudimentary (long term Residents almost always enhance them with custom-made skins), this test may actually do more to study an individual's artistic and technical facility, than self-perception. Leaving that to one side for a moment, it's still an intriguing idea that begs for follow-ups. I'm trying to get the study's results, but until I do, it's fun to speculate who made what avatar. Generally speaking, my guess is the photo's subject will be most accurate with specific facial features, while also under/over-emphasizing other details; for gender, I'd guess the female observer will generally create the more subtle avatar portrait (even if it doesn't have much actual resemblance.) What do you think, and does this process actually reveal anything fundamental about gender and self-perception?

Comments

[Arcadia Codesmith]

I would think that the concentration of highly talented and artistic men AND women in Second Life would give lie to the curious last-century notion that perception is strongly dictated by gender. There may be slight statistical differences, but I doubt those will be apparent in a sample size of three.

The difference between how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us might be more instructive. But the primitive nature of the SL toolset limits meaningful analysis.

[FlipperPA Peregrine]

I felt like I had been transported back to 2004! That said, I completely understand the rationale behind using just the basic slider controls. With no time to teach the entire interface, let alone the finer points of prim hair adjustment, this makes a lot of sense. A very interesting use of the platform, that's for sure!

[Osprey Therian]

I will guess B is by the person herself and C is by the man. The most attractive is the real person.

[Uceda English]

Those 3d images are creepy. Couldn't they get some better ones?