Virtual Psychology: An Overview of Theory, Research, and Future Possibilities

Jennifer Wu () and Philipp Kraemer ()
Additional contact information
Jennifer Wu: University of Kentucky
Philipp Kraemer: University of Kentucky

A chapter in Handbook on 3D3C Platforms, 2016, pp 293-307 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter presents a detailed overview of the study of virtual world psychology. With the advent of avatar-mediated virtual worlds, psychologists now have new questions to examine and new techniques with which to study human cognition and social interactions. This chapter reviews both empirical findings and theoretical perspectives guiding the research agenda. The chapter describes the dominant theoretical frameworks used to account for virtual world psychology, followed by a comprehensive discussion of the major empirical findings to date. The empirical review concentrates on cognitive and social processes that manifest in virtual settings as well as applied areas of behavioral research, such as education and mental health. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the directions in which the field is expected to move. Throughout the discussion, an emphasis is placed on the questions of how virtual worlds differ psychologically from the real world and how experience in virtual worlds influences behavior in the real world.

Keywords: Virtual World; False Memory; Rubber Hand; Rape Myth; Second Life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prochp:978-3-319-22041-3_11

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783319220413

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-22041-3_11

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Progress in IS from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().