The Proteus Effect and Priming: The Avatars that Influence Us

Through the analysis of recent concepts and classical theories in psychology, this review aims to provide some tools through which we may gain a better understanding of the influence that virtual characters can have on users’ behavior and attitudes in virtual environments. To do so, this article addresses the effects of the appearance of digital representations of the self (avatars), avatars embodied by other users and animated chatterbots. Overall, this analysis provides insight into the characteristics of social interactions in virtual environments.