Abstract: With the rapid development of virtual world, especially the ongoing integration between virtual reality and daily life, the impacts of virtual environment on users’ real life have gained great attention by current researchers. Users usually participate in online social interaction via virtual avatars. Avatars, as one kind of self-presentation in virtual environment, could affect users’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors in consciously or unconsciously on avatar-based online social interaction, which is known as the Proteus effect. In recent years, researchers have conducted a series of studies on Proteus effect. Existing researches on Proteus effect were mainly focused on the following four topics. At first, researchers clarified the concept of Proteus effect by distinguishing Proteus effect from behavioral confirmation and role playing. Secondly, researchers have summarized the influential factors of Proteus effect, including avatar’s valence and clue types, levels of individuation, and gender. Thirdly, researchers systematically discussed the effects of Proteus effect on users at both individual and group level, studies indicated that Proteus effect not only impacts the users’ information processing and attitude, but also influences users’ online behaviors, especially for aggressive and social behaviors. Finally, the potential occurrence mechanisms of the Proteus effect were explored based on the Self-perception Theory, and Deindividuation Theory. In summary, the previous researches provided a starting point for exploring psychological phenomena inside the virtual world. Future researches could focus on developing new research methods and paradigms, broadening research samples, and generalizing the current researches to cross cultural settings.

Key words: virtual world, Proteus Effect, avatar

摘要： 随着虚拟世界的迅速发展，特别是虚拟现实环境与现实生活的日趋融合，虚拟现实环境对用户的影响引起了研究者的重视。在基于自我呈现的线上互动中，化身特点会有意或无意地影响到用户的知觉、态度和行为，即普罗透斯效应（Proteus Effect）。近年来，有研究者围绕着普罗透斯效应进行了一系列研究，对这一效应的概念、潜在发生机制、影响因素以及对用户个体和群体水平的影响等方面进行了一些探讨，并取得一定进展，这为国内学者开展虚拟世界中心理现象的探究提供了新的切入点。在未来研究中，普罗透斯效应的研究方法和范式仍需拓展，研究样本仍需丰富，本土化研究、跨文化研究以及应用研究也有待逐步展开。

关键词: 虚拟世界, Proteus效应, 化身