(How you represent yourself in the virtual world of video games may affect how you behave toward others in the real world, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.) Our results indicate that just five minutes of role-play in virtual environments as either a hero or villain can easily cause people to reward or punish anonymous strangers. These behaviors occur despite modest, equivalent levels of self-reported identification with heroic and villainous avatars, alike. People are prone to be unaware of the influence of their virtual representations on their behavioral responses. In virtual environments, people can freely choose avatars that allow them … Continue reading Gunwoo Yoon