The Motivational Proteus Effect in Virtual Embodiment

Objective

MOTIVE proposes a programme to guide designers and researchers in creating avatar-mediated immersive experiences that strengthen autonomy, competence and relatedness to support sustained action in effortful tasks relevant to sustainability. It addresses the intersection of Self-Determination Theory, avatar embodiment and immersive virtual reality (VR), which has yet to mature on theoretical, empirical and practical levels. It does so by: RO1) developing and validating a third-person psychometric scale that measures perceived need satisfaction in avatars; RO2) conducting an immersive VR experiment that manipulates avatar motivational profiles and tests causal effects on behaviour with moderation by individual differences; and RO3) synthesising findings into a practical framework and design guidelines for motivational embodiment and behaviour change, triangulating theoretical and empirical evidence. The host institution and my skills are highly complementary: I will transfer expertise in psychometrics and user studies, while Tampere University’s Gamification Group provides strengths in avatar design, gamification, human-computer interaction and sustainability needed to deliver the research objectives. The project will produce a validated scale, a replicable experimental paradigm and clear design guidelines for researchers and practitioners working on mixed reality and behaviour change. By addressing intention-action gaps through avatar design, MOTIVE contributes actionable methods and evidence for sustained engagement in sustainable human practice.