Sometimes It’s Just a Game: The Pros and Cons of Using Virtual Environments in Social Influence Research

Abstract

AbstractClassic social influence effects are present both in games and virtual environments, similarly to real life. The use of games and virtual environments to study them offers the possibility to better control the experimental situation but also brings limitations. On one hand, sequential request techniques of social influence are studied in virtual environments, which enables the control of the experimental situation at the laboratory level. On the other hand, mere presence in the laboratory, devices for measuring physiological responses and awareness of participation in the game provide additional confounding variables that influence the results. We show examples of successful and unsuccessful replications of the foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face and foot-in-the-face effects accompanied by the analysis of the indicators of physiological arousal. Virtual environments are useful tools for social psychology, but they need to be applied carefully because even a serious game is sometimes just a game.