Virtually compliant: Immersive video gaming increases conformity to false computer judgments

Abstract

Real-life encounters with face-to-face contact are on the decline in a world in which many routine tasks are delegated to virtual characters—a development that bears both opportunities and risks. Interacting with such virtual-reality beings is particularly common during role-playing videogames, in which we incarnate into the virtual reality of an avatar. Video gaming is known to lead to the training and development of real-life skills and behaviors; hence, in the present study we sought to explore whether role-playing video gaming primes individuals’ identification with a computer enough to increase computer-related social conformity. Following immersive video gaming, individuals were indeed more likely to give up their own best judgment and to follow the vote of computers, especially when the stimulus context was ambiguous. Implications for human–computer interactions and for our understanding of the formation of identity and self-concept are discussed.