Study: Virtual men are standoffish too

From USA Today:

Males stand further away when talking to other males in the virtual world of Second Life and are less likely to keep eye contact, according to a study that shows at least one aspect of human behavior carries over into the virtual realm.

The study led by doctoral student Nick Yee at Stanford University found that male “avatars,” or three-dimensional representations of Second Life players, stood on average 7.7 feet away from each other, compared to 6.9 feet for mixed-gender pairs — measured, of course, in the virtual scale of Second Life…

The results, published in the latest issue of the journal Cyberpsychology & Behavior, indicate that interaction in virtual environments, such as Second Life, “are governed by the same social norms as social interactions in the physical world,” according to the authors.

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