Online behavioral influence: studies in the pressure-free submission paradigm - Thesis

Laura Barbier's thesis "Influence comportementale online: études dans le paradigme de la soumission sans pression" (Online behavioral influence: studies in the paradigm of submission without pressure) draws on the concepts of submission without pressure devised in the 1960s to illustrate forms of online behavioral influence in the context of computer-mediated communications (CMO).

The question is whether and how these influence processes also operate online. The field of study chosen is that of massive online games, because inter-individual interactions are numerous and because it is necessary to create an avatar to access them. The focus of the research is on avatars, which enable communication and whose appearance could significantly influence individual behavior.

Four processes of submission without pressure or voluntary commitment(foot-in-the-door,door-in-the-face, personification and but-you're-free ) are studied in the context of online communication.

• The first study looks at an anthropomorphic experiential avatar and tests whether the foot-in-the-door process works.
• The second study highlights that the operationalization of pressure-free submission techniques in a virtual world could be more sensitive than in real life.
• The third study replicates the effects of foot-in-the-door with a non-anthropomorphic avatar-experimenter.
• The fourth refines the conditions for success of the processes involved in pressure-free submission techniques in a virtual world.

Study 1 - The foot in the door

The first study shows a partial reproduction of everyday behaviors in CMOs. Individuals are affected by the experimenter's gender when there is a request for help. But social influence is more sensitive when exercised in a virtual world; the influence process is then sensitive to the appearance of the avatar-experimenter.

However, in "Second Life"-type environments, on the one hand, anonymous individuals escape social norms, and on the other, in the case of one-to-one interactions, the individual's attention is directed more towards the private than the public Self, whereas in real life, the individual's attention is directed more towards the public than the private Self. Consequently, as individuals would be more attentive to their private selves during online conversation, there would be a reduction in the effects of social influence.

Study 2 - Ls door to nose

The results of Study 2 do not allow us to reproduce the effects of the "Door to the nose" in Second Life, nor the effects of the Foot-in-the-door or Door-to-nose when the two requests are of identical cost. It seems that social influence, in the context of the no-pressure submission paradigm, does not depend on self-awareness in online communication. This study suggests that the effects of social influence may be more dependent on the experimenter than on the participant.

This is why the author of the thesis takes up the results of Study 1 and moderates them by hypothesizing that the moderator of the effects of the Foot-in-the-door is the source of the demand: the avatar. Thus, in online communication, the construction of influence would be formed over a longer period than in face-to-face communication, as individuals seek additional information to form an idea about their interlocutor in order to reduce their uncertainty.

It's possible that the need for representativeness and similarity that individuals seek in the real world functions identically, and that the absence of anthropomorphism raises too many uncertainties to give in to the process of behavioral submission. The fact that the avatar is more human in appearance facilitates the process. "Indeed, the more the individual reveals himself, the lower the level of uncertainty in others, and the greater the perceived social presence. The individual can more easily make the self-perceptive inferences necessary for the effects of the pressure-free submission process.

Study 3 - Personification

Study 3 confirmed that the "Foot in the door" process does not work when used with a non-human avatar. However, when the avatar is presented as "Sam, a gamer", the expected effect of the "Foot In The Door" works. It's possible that the personification of the user behind the avatar provides the necessary information, allowing the user to be categorized and reducing the uncertainty that may have arisen from the interaction. Indeed, computer-mediated communications limit the number of social cues during an interaction, hence the importance of the avatar in enabling categorization.

In fact, many studies on bots focus on how to make them more human. The personification effect is explained by social presence theory; or uncertainty reduction theory. These theories assert that the avatar needs to be humanized in order to be perceived as a living entity. It then exerts a social influence on others.

Study 4 ... but I'm already free!

The fourth study explores the role of social presence and uncertainty as determining factors in the effectiveness or otherwise of the Foot-in-the-Door process with a non-anthropomorphic avatar, by means of actual measurements of these two concepts: a scale for measuring social presence.

Study 4 does not confirm the interpretations of the results of Study 3. In other words, the personification effect observed in the previous study does not stem from an induction of social presence. However, the results confirm that the avatar's human appearance conveys sufficient social cues to increase the individual's social presence. The results showed that avatar type or personification did not vary uncertainty. In other words, Study 4 shows that the lack of effect on the achievement of a target behavior cannot be explained in the light of uncertainty reduction theory.

The research was unable to reproduce the effects of "but you're free to" because the freedom naturally granted by online virtual worlds doesn't activate reactance, and the individual doesn't have to restore his freedom.

What do we look like?

In conclusion, the research confirms that the anthropomorphism of the avatar is important in inter-individual interactions, notably through the social presence it induces. Moreover, the author shows that the personification of a non-anthropomorphic avatar increases behavioral submission. However, this result is independent of the induction of social presence, and has yet to be explained.

One possible explanation could be that helping behaviors are more easily performed when requested by individuals who share commonalities or similarities with us. Numerous studies show that similarity between two individuals favors helping behavior, whether in terms of social status, origin, first name or physical appearance.

Sources

Online behavioral influence: studies in the pressure-free submission paradigm - Thesis by Laura Barbier
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01958086

Wikipedia - Door in the face https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied-dans-la-porte

Wikipedia - Door in the face https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door-in-the-face_technique

Wikipedia - Foot in the door - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot-in-the-door_technique

Wikipedia - Commitment - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engagement_(psychologie_sociale)