Prosociality in Pixels: Investigating the Effects of Emotional Synchrony

The Metaverse is gaining more attention as a collaborative space, increasing interest in its potential. Avatar representation and users' behaviors are key aspects of how people interact in the Metaverse; however, how different avatar-related factors affect how users engage in prosocial behaviors remains unknown. Our study aims to explore the role of avatar features, emotional asynchrony between users and their avatars, and avatar identification in shaping users' prosocial behaviors. The results of our pilot test show that improving avatar features can strengthen emotional synchrony between users and their avatars, making users feel more connected to their avatars and more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors in the Metaverse. The research plan and the expected contributions of our work are discussed.