The Regulating Effect Of Self-esteem On The Proteus Effect In Virtual Relationship Situation

With the rapid development of science and technology, the virtual world also gets unprecedented development. Especially when the virtual environment gets more mutual penetration of real life, the public participation for the virtual world has also gradually improved, and the corresponding study of virtual environment psychology also goes forward step by step. In the virtual world, when we are in the role of avatar to participate in the virtual environment, with a first-person perspective, we will automatically enter the world of embodiment. It can change our behavior in real life and thoughts, if our avatar appeal is very high, we may be more confident. This is a psychological phenomenon, called "the Proteus Effect". In simple terms, it is that a person in order to adapt to a new virtual body would change his behavior. Just for now, the research about it is a new direction which is emerging. But the research content and the theoretical framework are more about the direct effect of the avatar, and the study of the situation and the individual differences, especially the self-esteem factors are very few. Three experiments are needed to implement the study, and the process will use the method of simulation virtual environment. This study makes a deep exploration and research on the Proteus effect in virtual relationship situation, and it not only systematically examines the effect of the avatar in the virtual situation, but also focuses on the self-esteem's effects and the situation's effects on the Proteus effect. This experiment from a new point of view, adopts a new research method to deeply discuss the Proteus effect, so as to enrich and extend the field of research. Moreover, this research treats the personality factor of self-esteem as the research variables, which provides a new way of thinking for the psychological intervention in reality. The results finally showed that:(1) The Proteus effect will be influenced by individual levels of self-esteem.(2) The context of virtual intimacy significantly adjusts the effect of the avatar, the avatar's main effect shows significantly in establishing close relationships with others but not so significantly in situation of maintaining close relationship with others and solving the conflicting of close relationship.(3) In circumstances of maintaining close relationship with others, self-esteem level adjusts the effect of embodiment: the social performance of high self-esteem individuals are significantly affected by the clues of avatar, however, the low self-esteem individuals are affected not so significantly.(4) In dealing with conflict situations of close relationship, self-esteem level regulates the effects of avatar: high self-esteem individuals' reaction to deal with conflict is significantly affected by the clues of avatar, and low self-esteem individuals' reaction is not affected by the clues of avatar.