The role of social virtual world in increasing psychological resilience during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic

作者：

Highlights：

• Becoming members of a social virtual world (SVW) increases the psychological resilience towards contracting COVID-19.

• This is explained by disembodied experience encountered when users digitally represent themselves via an avatar in an SVW.

• The Proteus effect is extended to a more innate attribute of the avatar––its imperviousness from human body's limitations.

• The findings identify a novel coping strategy to strengthen individuals' psychological resilience against the pandemic.

摘要

•Becoming members of a social virtual world (SVW) increases the psychological resilience towards contracting COVID-19.•This is explained by disembodied experience encountered when users digitally represent themselves via an avatar in an SVW.•The Proteus effect is extended to a more innate attribute of the avatar––its imperviousness from human body's limitations.•The findings identify a novel coping strategy to strengthen individuals' psychological resilience against the pandemic.

论文关键词：Avatar,Social virtual world,COVID-19,Psychological resilience,Proteus effect

论文评审过程：Received 31 August 2020, Revised 13 September 2021, Accepted 27 September 2021, Available online 28 September 2021, Version of Record 2 October 2021.

论文官网地址：https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107036