2nd International ICST Conference on Immersive Telecommunications

Research Article

Morality in Tele-immersive Environments

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/ICST.IMMERSCOM2009.6574,
        author={Kathryn Y. Segovia and Jeremy N. Bailenson and Benoit Monin},
        title={Morality in Tele-immersive Environments},
        proceedings={2nd International ICST Conference on Immersive Telecommunications},
        publisher={ICST},
        proceedings_a={IMMERSCOM},
        year={2010},
        month={5},
        keywords={Morality moral psychology tele-immersive environments virtual reality.},
        doi={10.4108/ICST.IMMERSCOM2009.6574}
    }
    
  • Kathryn Y. Segovia
    Jeremy N. Bailenson
    Benoit Monin
    Year: 2010
    Morality in Tele-immersive Environments
    IMMERSCOM
    ICST
    DOI: 10.4108/ICST.IMMERSCOM2009.6574
Kathryn Y. Segovia1,*, Jeremy N. Bailenson2,*, Benoit Monin3,*
  • 1: Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Building 120, Stanford, CA 94305-2050 (650) 723-0701
  • 2: Stanford University, Room 344 McClatchy Hall, Stanford, CA 94305-2050 (650) 723-0701
  • 3: Stanford University, Room 388 Building 420, Stanford, CA 94305-2130 (650) 723-2449
*Contact email: kathrynr@stanford.edu, bailenson@stanford.edu, monin@stanford.edu

Abstract

Humans are spending an increasing amount of time in tele-immersive environments interacting with avatars or virtual human bodies. Additionally, human behavior and cognition are affected by experiences in tele-immersive environments. Although there is substantial psychological work surrounding the notion of morality, there is little work that examines the interplay of immersive digital environments and the moral identity of the digital medium user. We conducted a study to explore how participants' moral behaviors and self-ratings of morality changed after immersion in either a moral or immoral tele-immersive environment. Results revealed that participants who witnessed the immoral scenarios felt and acted more immoral than participants in the moral scenario condition. These findings have important implications for understanding the effects of digital media as well as for the study of the psychological construct of moral identity.