Social Conformity in Immersive Virtual Environments: The Impact of Agents' Gaze Behavior.

ABSTRACT: Immersive virtual reality (IVR) can induce an experience of "social presence" which can, in turn, increase social influence. Non-verbal behavior such as eye contact is an important component of human communication and, therefore, an important factor in creating social presence. This paper presents an experimental study that elaborates social influence through conformity with a group of virtual agents within an immersive virtual environment (IVE). Specifically, it investigates the impact of the agents' gaze behavior on social presence and influence. An experiment based on the Asch (1951) paradigm using two levels of agents' gaze behavior (Eye Contact condition vs. No-Eye Contact condition) was conducted. The results showed that participants conformed with the agents as they gave significant

SUBMITTER: Kyrlitsias C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7506128 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature