Effects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making

Abstract Mounting evidence has demonstrated that embodied virtual reality, during which physical bodies are replaced with virtual surrogates, can strongly alter cognition and behavior even when the virtual body radically differs from one’s own. One particular emergent area of interest is the investi...

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Autores principales:	Elena Bolt, Jasmine T. Ho, Marte Roel Lesur, Alexander Soutschek, Philippe N. Tobler, Bigna Lenggenhager
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/bac7a8069349480facbc28c77ac76af4
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:bac7a8069349480facbc28c77ac76af4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:bac7a8069349480facbc28c77ac76af42021-12-02T16:06:44ZEffects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making10.1038/s41598-021-94869-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/bac7a8069349480facbc28c77ac76af42021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94869-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Mounting evidence has demonstrated that embodied virtual reality, during which physical bodies are replaced with virtual surrogates, can strongly alter cognition and behavior even when the virtual body radically differs from one’s own. One particular emergent area of interest is the investigation of how virtual gender swaps can influence choice behaviors. Economic decision-making paradigms have repeatedly shown that women tend to display more prosocial sharing choices than men. To examine whether a virtual gender swap can alter gender-specific differences in prosociality, 48 men and 51 women embodied either a same- or different-gender avatar in immersive virtual reality. In a between-subjects design, we differentiated between specifically social and non-social decision-making by means of a virtually administered interpersonal and intertemporal discounting task, respectively. We hypothesized that a virtual gender swap would elicit social behaviors that stereotypically align with the gender of the avatar. To relate potential effects to changes in self-perception, we also measured implicit and explicit identification with gendered (or gender-typical) traits prior to and following the virtual experience, and used questionnaires that assessed the strength of the illusion. Contrary to our hypothesis, our results show that participants made less prosocial decisions (i.e., became more selfish) in different-gender avatars, independent of their own biological sex. Moreover, women embodying a male avatar in particular were more sensitive to temptations of immediate rewards. Lastly, the manipulation had no effects on implicit and explicit identification with gendered traits. To conclude, while we showed that a virtual gender swap indeed alters decision-making, gender-based expectancies cannot account for all the task-specific interpersonal and intertemporal changes following the virtual gender swap.Elena BoltJasmine T. HoMarte Roel LesurAlexander SoutschekPhilippe N. ToblerBigna LenggenhagerNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-15 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Elena Bolt Jasmine T. Ho Marte Roel Lesur Alexander Soutschek Philippe N. Tobler Bigna Lenggenhager Effects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making
description	Abstract Mounting evidence has demonstrated that embodied virtual reality, during which physical bodies are replaced with virtual surrogates, can strongly alter cognition and behavior even when the virtual body radically differs from one’s own. One particular emergent area of interest is the investigation of how virtual gender swaps can influence choice behaviors. Economic decision-making paradigms have repeatedly shown that women tend to display more prosocial sharing choices than men. To examine whether a virtual gender swap can alter gender-specific differences in prosociality, 48 men and 51 women embodied either a same- or different-gender avatar in immersive virtual reality. In a between-subjects design, we differentiated between specifically social and non-social decision-making by means of a virtually administered interpersonal and intertemporal discounting task, respectively. We hypothesized that a virtual gender swap would elicit social behaviors that stereotypically align with the gender of the avatar. To relate potential effects to changes in self-perception, we also measured implicit and explicit identification with gendered (or gender-typical) traits prior to and following the virtual experience, and used questionnaires that assessed the strength of the illusion. Contrary to our hypothesis, our results show that participants made less prosocial decisions (i.e., became more selfish) in different-gender avatars, independent of their own biological sex. Moreover, women embodying a male avatar in particular were more sensitive to temptations of immediate rewards. Lastly, the manipulation had no effects on implicit and explicit identification with gendered traits. To conclude, while we showed that a virtual gender swap indeed alters decision-making, gender-based expectancies cannot account for all the task-specific interpersonal and intertemporal changes following the virtual gender swap.
format	article
author	Elena Bolt Jasmine T. Ho Marte Roel Lesur Alexander Soutschek Philippe N. Tobler Bigna Lenggenhager
author_facet	Elena Bolt Jasmine T. Ho Marte Roel Lesur Alexander Soutschek Philippe N. Tobler Bigna Lenggenhager
author_sort	Elena Bolt
title	Effects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making
title_short	Effects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making
title_full	Effects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making
title_fullStr	Effects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making
title_full_unstemmed	Effects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making
title_sort	effects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/bac7a8069349480facbc28c77ac76af4
work_keys_str_mv	AT elenabolt effectsofavirtualgenderswaponsocialandtemporaldecisionmaking AT jasminetho effectsofavirtualgenderswaponsocialandtemporaldecisionmaking AT marteroellesur effectsofavirtualgenderswaponsocialandtemporaldecisionmaking AT alexandersoutschek effectsofavirtualgenderswaponsocialandtemporaldecisionmaking AT philippentobler effectsofavirtualgenderswaponsocialandtemporaldecisionmaking AT bignalenggenhager effectsofavirtualgenderswaponsocialandtemporaldecisionmaking
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Effects of a virtual gender swap on social and temporal decision-making

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