title: "Whose second life is this?" How avatar-based racial cues shape ethno-racial minorities' perception of virtual worlds.
abstract: Research on social identity contingencies suggests that situational cues, such as a numerical representation of social identities in a given social environment, can trigger identity-associated threat for individuals whose social identity is marginalized. Given that popular virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life [SL]) are often criticized for White-avatar dominance or White bias, we examined the psychological effects of the alleged White dominance in avatar-based virtual worlds by conducting two experiments in which participants read fictitious profiles of SL resident avatars. White and non-White participants were randomly assigned to view either a set of White-dominant avatar profiles or a set of racially diverse ones. After reading the profiles, participants had an opportunity to customize avatars using the SL interface. The findings of Experiment 1 (n=59) revealed that non-White participants exposed to the White-dominant avatar profiles, when compared with those exposed to the racially diverse profiles, reported significantly lower levels of sense of belonging and intention to participate in SL. Experiment 2 (n=64) demonstrated that non-White participants exposed to the White-dominant avatar profiles gave significantly higher estimation of the White user population within SL; the data also showed that exposure to the White-dominant avatar profiles resulted in a greater sense of limitation on skin customization among non-White participants than among White participants. The present research suggests that ethno-racial minorities, when exposed to avatar-based cues that signal White dominance, may perceive the virtual world as identity threatening, thereby feeling psychologically disconnected and detached from it. Implications regarding racial/ethnic diversity in virtual worlds are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication, Hope College, Holland, Michigan 49424, USA. leej@hope.edu
authors.forename: Jong-Eun Roselyn
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sung Gwan
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D060756:Social Networking; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult