Avatar’s Affecting Behavioral Change

Video games and weight loss—these aren’t two phrases you typically here in conjunction with one another.  Typically you hear the opposite because video and computer games foster a more sedentary lifestyle.  However a new pilot study is making major news showing evidence that avatars who model healthy lifestyle behaviors can encourage women to practice these healthy behaviors in their own lives.

Associate professor and PhD Melissa Napolitano conducted the small study at Temple University’s Center for Obesity Research and Education.  One hundred and twenty-eight women were surveyed, most of whom had tried to lose weight in the previous year and who had never had much experience with virtual reality or online gaming.  With 88% claiming to be willing to try a virtual avatar who would model healthy behaviors which they would hopefully emulate, the women agreed to participate.

Several of the woman involved in the study were not “techies” yet were still able to utilize the DVD avatar that the research team created.  They did not have to manipulate the avatar, they simply watched the video.  They were however able to choose the skin color and shape of the avatar to resemble themselves—which researchers concluded helped in the visualization process.

Many of the women responded that watching the avatars could help them picture themselves in a healthy state, participating in healthy habits such as taking walks every day or making better food choices in the supermarket.  The researchers concluded that modeling or seeing the steps you need to take toward improvement in the virtual world makes behavioral change in one’s real life easier.

Perhaps the greatest aspect of living a healthy lifestyle is having the confidence to believe you can.  Viewing yourself, even in virtual form, performing behaviors you have long desired to make part of your life may encourage the confidence you need to achieve your goals and discover the determination you already had inside of you.  While technology can breed inactivity, an unhealthy behavior, additional research may show that in time it can be used as a positive in the battle with your weight!

Your turn to take action: Do you think a virtual version of yourself performing healthy behaviors would help you live a healthier lifestyle?

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