What Does My Avatar Say About Me? Inferring Personality From Avatars

Abstract

Many individuals now meet and develop friendships while online. As a result, people must form impressions of online acquaintances based on that person’s online representation. Here, we investigate personality inferences and intentions to befriend based solely on simple avatars (i.e., customized cartoon representations of the self). Our data show that some traits are more easily inferred from avatars than others, avatars can communicate accurate and distinctive information regarding personality, and individuals with certain personality traits create avatars that are more likely to be perceived accurately. We also found that agreeable and normative individuals created avatars that elicited more desire for friendship from others, implying that the impression given by one’s digital avatars may have social consequences.