The joint influence of social status and personal attitudes in a contact and open versus a noncontact and homophobic culture on the virtual Midas touch

Abstract

Alongside the highly rapid development of virtual reality technology, embodied agents will become soon a common element of human–computer interactions. Our study analyzed the interactional influence of social status, personal attitudes (homophobia and social status importance), and culture on the efficiency of the virtual Midas touch effect. From a human perspective, we focused on the cultural background related to the social norms of touch, homophobia, and social status importance. In Poland, a noncontact culture, men avoid same-gender touch and also score very high on male homophobia. Catalonia, on the other hand, has a contact culture, where same-gender male touch is rather common and natural. Catalonia is also one of the most inclusive and open societies in the world. From an embodied agent’s perspective, we asked whether the agent’s social status influences compliance with virtual touch. We used a modified paradigm of the ultimatum game to observe whether Polish and Catalan men are more compliant when touched by high- or low-status agents. Our results suggest that the virtual interpersonal touch and social status importance influence compliance with a moderating effect of culture. We found also a significant effect of the offer’s value and a moderating effect of culture and homophobia on compliance.