Individual differences in virtual environments. An experimental research on emotions, behaviour and sense of presence in Second Life

The present work explores individual differences of behaviour, interaction, sense of presence and emotional experiencing in the virtual environment of Second Life. First, we evaluated subjects’ cognitive style of interaction (from a cognitive-constructivist perspective). The sample was splitted in two groups by the “control” and “insecurity” dimensions. Subjects were then asked to spend some time into Second Life. This experience has been evaluated from the point of view of behaviour, emotion and the sense of Presence. We have found that most of the aspects of subjects’ personality does not seem to change into a virtual world like Second Life; on the other hand this has been perceived as a relatively safe environment, mostly for high insecure subjects.