Second Life Personality Type Study – no longer recruiting

The recruitment phase of this study is now over

Thank you if you have already participated in the psychology study – it was very much appreciated!

If you requested results then the research (James Doodson) will be in contact in the next few months. As ever, if you wish to withdraw any submitted results then please contact the researcher via email (jd254@bath.ac.uk) using the email address that you provided during the study.

If you would like to receive a copy of the final dissertation document then please contact the researcher via email (jd254@bath.ac.uk)

What was this study about?

This study examined the relationship (if any) between the personality in the physical world (e.g. flesh and blood) and the virtual world (i.e. SecondLife, ActiveWorlds, IBM Metaverse). Research on the consistency of the relationship between the personality in the physical world and the virtual world has been minimal; as virtual-world uptake, participation and activity is increased, the knowledge gap needs to be filled. Companies are increasingly using virtual worlds to recruit employees with companies such as Hewlett-Packard Co, IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Verizon Communications (CNN.com, 2007; OnRec.com, 2007; Reynolds, 2008; WSJ, 2007); with little research upon the relationship between personality in the physical world and the virtual world, it cannot be assumed that interviews and recruitment in the virtual world can consistently predict an individual’s suitability for a job in the physical world. Indeed, there are two theoretically grounded views – trait theory would predict that suggests that a personality ‘trait’ demonstrates itself consistently in an individuals’ behaviour. However, an actor can portray a character with a completely different personality to his/her own personality (Goffman, 1959; Lamarque, 1989); this character trait is testament to the notion that a personality can be feigned. As such, there is a contrast in both theoretical and practical evidence that should be investigated; consequently, this research seeks to inform the debate by determine to what extent there is a relationship between personality in the physical world and the virtual world. For both the virtual world and the physical world, participants were measured on the classic personality measures: introversion-extraversion, openness to experience, and neuroticism. For each of the measures, results will be compared to determine to what extent there is a relationship between your personality score in the physical-world and in the virtual-world.

Advice Contacts

Should you have any concerns raised from taking part in this study or any individual results that you have requested, then there are a variety of online and offline advice avenues for you to explore. A range of these advice avenues are below:

Direct virtual-world contact (e.g. Second Life; email)

· HealthInfo Island – a location on SecondLife to discuss any health related issues - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/59/72/26

· Centre for Positive Mental Health - http://secondlife.com/events/event.php?id=216236&date=1148520600

· SLHealthy - a collection of links for personal advice locations and forums in SecondLife - http://slhealthy.wetpaint.com/

· HealthyPlace - www.healthyplace.com - A community of people providing mental health information, support and the opportunity to share experiences helpful to others. Information on psychological and psychiatric medication from both a consumer and expert point of view. Active chatrooms, hosted support groups, people who keep online journals, diaries, mental health news, mental health videos, online documentary films, mental health radio and more. (global site)

· #Advice on EfNet – http://efnetadvice.org/index.html - an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) ‘chatroom’ to discuss topics in public or in one-on-one private chats

Direct physical-world contacts (e.g. telephone)

· UK Samaritans: email: jo@samaritans.org; website: www.samaritans.org; UK phone 08457 90 90 90; email: jo@samaritans.org (UK-based)

· UK - Advocacy For You: email info@advocacyforyou.co.uk, www.advocacyforyou.co.uk - Support, advice and information to those suffering from a mental health problem, families and friends. Aim to assist by providing support on a personal and practical level. Website includes information on Mental Health Act 1983 and information on medications. (UK-based)

· UK SupportLine: telephone: 020 8554 9004, email info@supportline.org.uk - Telephone helpline for children, young adults and adults. Provide emotional support on wide range of issues including support to anyone suffering from mental health. Also details of counsellors and agencies throughout the UK (UK-based)

Website Links

· www.sort-out-stress.co.uk - site aimed at men including information relating to mental health issues (UK-based)

· www.ru-ok.com - Mental health information and advice for young people (global site)

· www.readthesigns.org - Mental health information including eating disorders, anxiety, self harm (global site)

· www.healthyplace.com - A community of people providing mental health information, support and the opportunity to share experiences helpful to others. Information on psychological and psychiatric medication from both a consumer and expert point of view. Active chatrooms, hosted support groups, people who keep online journals, diaries, mental health news, mental health videos, online documentary films, mental health radio and more. (global site)

· www.advocacyforyou.co.uk - Mental health support site. Also information on medication (global site)

Suggested Reading

Furthermore, If you would like to find out more about this area for yourself, the following are book and journal references into the ever-developing field of personality psychology:

Allport, G. W. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Engler, Barbara (2006). Personality Theories. Houghton Mifflin.

McKenna, K. Y. A., & Bargh, J. A. (2000). Plan 9 From Cyberspace: The Implications of the Internet for Personality and Social Psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4(1), 57-75.

Mischel, W. (1999). Introduction to Personality. Sixth edition. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace.

Reis, H. T., & Judd, C. M. (2000). Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Roberts, B. W., & Mroczek, D. (2008). Personality Trait Change in Adulthood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(1), 31-35.

Ryckman, R. (2004). Theories of Personality. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.