Rabindra Ratan Ph.D.

Selected Publications:

Leveling up on stereotype threat: The role of avatar customization and avatar embodiment
Rabindra Ratan, Young June Sah

This paper examines how avatar gender in a game influences subsequent math performance. Women participants who customized a male avatar did better on a math task than those who customized a female avatar. Further, this effect was stronger for people who had felt less embodied in their avatars during the game. These findings are consistent with the large body of research on stereotype threat which suggests that people conform to negative stereotypes about themselves when they are reminded of such stereotypes. This research also offer new insights into the role that avatars may play in such effects, which has implications for the design of learning games and virtual environments. Namely, such media should be designed carefully, with the potential effects of avatar gender in mind so that they do not unintentionally promote gender inequality in educational contexts.

When Mii Is Me: A Psychophysiological Examination of Avatar Self-Relevance
Rabindra Ratan, Michael Dawson

This paper examines the theoretical mechanisms of avatar use effects. Previous research on the Proteus effect phenomenon suggests that the way an avatar appears affects how the avatar user behaves, even after avatar use. This study examines how such effects are influenced by elements of the avatar user’s psychological connection to the avatar. After participants played a sword-fighting video game and completed a survey about their psychological connections to the avatar, they were asked to set up the game and watch their avatar get beaten up. Participants who had reported a stronger emotional connection to the avatar during use exhibited stronger physiological responses while watching it get beaten up. Conversely, participants who felt a strong amount of embodiment in the avatar during use exhibited less negative physiological responses while watching it get beaten up. This somewhat counter-intuitive finding suggests when people feel embodied in an avatar during use, they are more likely to feel disconnected from it after use. This research has implications for the design of digital games and virtual environments that include avatars and intend to impact users in meaningful ways.

Rabindra, R. & Tsai, H. S. (2014). Dude, where’s my Avacar? A mixed-method examination of communication in the driving context. Pervasive and Mobile Computing. doi: 10.1016/j.pmcj.2014.05.011

Ratan, R., & Hasler, B., (2014). Playing well with virtual classmates: Relating avatar design to collaboration satisfaction. Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing. doi: 10.1145/2531602.2531732.

Kahn, A., Ratan, R., & Williams, D. (2014). Why We Distort in Self-Report: The Effects Cognitive Dissonance and Balance Theory on Self-Report Errors. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(4), 1010-1023. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12056

Lehdonvirta, V., Ratan, R., Kennedy, T.L.M., Williams, D. (2014). Pink and Blue Pixel$: Gender and Economic Disparity in Two Massive Online Games. The Information Society, 30(4), 243-255. doi:10.1080/01972243.2014.915277.

Ratan, R.A. & Sah, Y.J. (2014). The Spawn of Presence: Examining the Relationship between Presence and Self-Presence. Proceedings of the 15th Annual International Workshop on Presence. Vienna, Austria.

MSU Teacher Scholar award, 2017, awarded annually to six members of the tenure system faculty for their devotion to and skill in teaching.  http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2017/2017-teacher-scholar-awards/

MSU AT&T Award for Best Blended Course, 2015. TC401-731: Science Fiction, Communication & Technology. http://attawards.msu.edu/winners/2015/tc-401-731

MSU Lilly Teaching Fellow, 2014-2015. Fellowship recognizing teaching excellence and providing support for research on the scholarship of teaching and learning.