Effects of Embodied Self-Distancing in Virtual Environments on Group Decision-Making

Paper Title

Effects of Embodied Self-Distancing in Virtual Environments on Group Decision-Making

Publication Info

• Topic area: Virtual environments and group decision-making
• Keywords: Embodied self-distancing, virtual environments, group decision-making, self-avatar, communication behavior, intragroup conflict, empathy, perspective manipulation, trust, group dynamics

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Prior research has explored self-distancing for emotion regulation and individual-level cognitive shifts but lacks investigation into its effects on group-level decision-making in multiparty discussions within virtual environments.
• Significance: Understanding how perspective manipulation affects group dynamics could improve decision-making processes, reduce conflict, and enhance collaboration in organizational settings.
• Motivation and related work: Self-distancing has been shown to facilitate adaptive self-reflection and emotion regulation. Virtual environments offer a unique opportunity to embody self-distancing through perspective manipulation, but its application in group decision-making contexts remains underexplored.

Solution

• Proposed approach: Embodied self-distancing via perspective manipulation in virtual environments, comparing a self-distanced perspective (viewing one's avatar from behind) with a self-immersed perspective (viewing from a first-person perspective).
• Novelty:
  1. Demonstrates the effects of embodied self-distancing on decision-making quality, communication behavior, and group members’ perceptions.
  2. Provides empirical evidence for applying self-distancing in multiparty group discussions.
  3. Proposes a methodological framework for evaluating group discussions in virtual environments.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Conducted a between-participants study with 144 participants (48 triads) performing two types of decision-making tasks.
  • Compared self-distanced and self-immersed perspectives using measures of decision-making quality, communication behavior, and group members’ perceptions.
  • Analyzed data using linear mixed models, ANOVA, and chi-square tests.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Decision-making quality: Significant improvements in consensus agreement (β = .069, p = .036) and opinion inference accuracy (β = .075, p = .031) in the self-distanced perspective.
  • Communication behavior: Increased regulatory gestures (β = .045, p = .029) and decreased emblems (β = –.041, p = .007) in the self-distanced perspective.
  • Group members’ perceptions: Reduced relational conflict (β = –.479, p = .025) and task conflict (β = –.507, p = .038), but decreased perceived affective interdependence (β = –.431, p = .015).
• Advantage over baselines: Self-distanced perspective facilitated mutual understanding, reduced conflict, and improved group consensus compared to the self-immersed perspective.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Participants engaged in two decision-making tasks: one with asymmetric information distribution and a correct answer, and another with symmetric information distribution and no correct answer.
  • Measures included task accuracy, information sharing, gesture probabilities, gaze distribution, and questionnaire responses.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited to visual manipulation; other self-distancing strategies (e.g., linguistic or temporal) were not explored.
  • Short-term effects were studied; long-term impacts remain unverified.
  • Visual constraints in the self-distanced perspective (e.g., avatar obstructing visibility) need refinement.
  • Potential suitability for conflict-prone situations but less effective in emotionally sensitive contexts.

Summary

This study investigated the effects of embodied self-distancing in virtual environments on group decision-making by comparing self-distanced and self-immersed perspectives. Results showed that the self-distanced perspective improved consensus agreement, opinion inference accuracy, and regulatory gestures while reducing intragroup conflict and perceived affective interdependence. These findings suggest that embodied self-distancing may be effective in conflict-prone situations but less suitable for contexts emphasizing empathy and emotional connection. Future research should explore alternative self-distancing methods, refine visual designs, and examine long-term impacts to optimize its application in collaborative settings.