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REAL TO ME: EFFECTING REAL-WORLD CHANGE FROM A VIRTUAL
ENVIRONMENT THROUGH AN INTERACTION BETWEEN PRESENCE
AND IMMERSIVE TENDENCIES
by
Jennifer Rose Talevich
_________________________________________________________________
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(PSYCHOLOGY)
December 2010
Copyright 2010 Jennifer Rose Talevich
Object Description
| Title | Real to me: Effecting real-world change from a virtual environment through an interaction between presence and immersive tendencies |
| Author | Talevich, Jennifer Rose |
| Author email | talevich@usc.edu; uzebra@gmail.com |
| Degree | Master of Arts |
| Document type | Thesis |
| Degree program | Psychology |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2010-12 |
| Date submitted | 2010 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2010-11-01 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Read, Stephen J. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Miller, Lynn Carol Walsh, David A. |
| Abstract | People often react to virtual environments as though they are real (Mühlberger et al, 2007; Parsons & Rizzo, 2008; Rizzo et al., 2008) but research is limited in two ways: 1) we do not have a clear idea of the extent to which these effects are maintained outside the virtual environment (Powers & Emmelkamp, 2008) and 2) we do not understand what psychological mechanisms make this possible. Yet causing real-world change is what would make these interventions worthwhile and understanding such mechanisms is the key to making these interventions effective. Previous research suggests that the key to an effective virtual environment may lie in facilitating an individuals' sense of presence: the subjective sense of being in one place even when one is physically situated in another. Our work adds to this body of research. Our study longitudinally measured real-world sexual risk-taking, both before and three months after participation in a virtual intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either an interactive video experimental condition or a non-interactive video control condition. For those in the experimental condition, in which Ss directed events, we found an interaction between the state variable presence and a trait variable that measures the personal inclination to experience presence (Immersive Tendencies). Whether the change in the behavior was adaptive (decreased risk taking) or maladaptive (increasing risk-taking) depended on whether or not the amount of presence experienced in the VR was congruent with the participants' immersive tendencies. No real-world behavior changes were found for sexual risk-taking in the non-interactive control condition. These results show real-world behavior change can be effected and sustained from a virtual environment and the psychological mechanisms involved in that accomplishment. |
| Keyword | behavior change; decision making; intervention; risk; virtual reality; sexual risk-taking; virtual intervention; real world behavior change; human computer interaction |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Los Angeles |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3517 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Talevich, Jennifer Rose |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@dots.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Talevich-4165 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume26/etd-Talevich-4165.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@dots.usc.edu |
| Full text | REAL TO ME: EFFECTING REAL-WORLD CHANGE FROM A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT THROUGH AN INTERACTION BETWEEN PRESENCE AND IMMERSIVE TENDENCIES by Jennifer Rose Talevich _________________________________________________________________ A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (PSYCHOLOGY) December 2010 Copyright 2010 Jennifer Rose Talevich |
