“How Second Life Affects Real Life,” an article by Kristina Dell, talks about Dell’s first visit to Second Life.  Dell talks about her experiences of being in the game Second Life, an online virtual world.  After creating an avatar that Dell thought was a “hotter version” of herself, she began trying to interact with others in the game.  As soon as she started interacting with someone, her sister came into the room and immediately commented on how Dell’s avatar looked “ugly.”

After her sister’s comment, Dell decided to look up some research about self-perception that was done at Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab in which Jeremy Bailenson, head of the lab and the assistant professor of communication at Stanford, studied how self-perception affects behavior.  Dell talks about how it is no surprise that what we think about ourselves and our confidence level affects how we approach the real and virtual world.

Dell continues to reference Bailenson’s research, talking about how the qualities acquired online can also influence one’s qualities such as confidence even in real life.  “When we cloak ourselves in avatars, it subtly alters the manner in which we behave.  It’s about self-perception and self-confidence.  Do you consciously wear your power suit to feel confident, or is it that you’re in this suit and you’re feeling up, but you’re unaware of the reason?” says Bailenson.

This is personally really interesting to me because I reflected on my own experiences with Second Life and realized that just like Dell, I had thought I made my avatar a more attractive version of myself, giving her a small waist and skinnier frame.  Living through my avatar and exploring the game, it was interesting because it was as if I was living through my avatar and felt more confident talking and interacting through her than me interacting with others in real life.  I did not however, notice if this gave me real self confidence in the real world.

Dell’s article continues to include research conducted through Stanford graduate students who study virtual life qualities of behavior that ultimately seep into real life behavior.  This included individuals wanting to look and would attempt change perceptions of themselves in the real world after making themselves look a certain way online.  Ultimately, the conclusion is that virtual behavior may affect real-world health.

Dell ultimately ends the article talking about how she got more confident in real life after interacting online in Second Life.  “I was more outgoing,” she wrote.  She plans to give her avatar on Second Life a cottage by the sea and a job that caters toward charitable work.  She hopes that “some of the positive vibes will rub onto her real life.  I’ll let you know how it works out.”  Dell truly believes in these Stanford studies and hopes that the good feelings in her virtual life will seep into her real life.

These studies to me personally, are really interesting because I did not think a game and virtual world could give someone a personality change.  Though the studies themselves are interesting, because I cannot personally relate, I am honestly really skeptical.  As I cannot really relate, I was thinking, “Hmmm, maybe I should try Dell’s experiment and try to see if it will work for me too?  Maybe these positive vibes can also rub off into my life?”  Haha, I will try it out too—and I will let you know if it works in my life too!
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1739601,00.html#ixzz1q5W9kuEs