A01=Rabindra Ratan
AI
AI companions
augmented reality
Author_Rabindra Ratan
Avatars
Category=JBCT
Category=PDR
deepfakes
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
eq_society-politics
forthcoming
how do avatars affect behaviour?
how do avatars affect the self?
immersive technologies
media psychology
media technology
mediated environments
metaverse
Rabindra Ratan
social media filters
video games
virtual environments
virtual reality
virtual selves
VR
what are avatars?
Product details
- ISBN 9781509571017
- Publication Date: 13 Nov 2026
- Publisher: Polity Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Avatars are everywhere — from virtual environments and social media filters to AI companions and deepfakes.
In Avatars, media psychologist Rabindra Ratan draws from two decades of pioneering research to explain how avatars shape the way we think, feel, and connect in an increasingly mediated world. Through accessible theory and compelling examples, Ratan defines what avatars are across digital and physical forms, explores how people relate to them as extensions and partners of the self, and reveals how avatars influence human behaviour — often in ways we do not consciously recognize. Moving from the psychology of identification and customization to the power of avatars for persuasion and influence, this book charts the past, present, and emerging future of human-avatar relationships.
Combining rigorous analysis with personal insight from a career at the forefront of avatar research, this book offers a clear and engaging framework for understanding how our virtual selves are transforming not just media, but what it means to be human. Avatars is essential reading for students and researchers in Media, Communication, STS, Game Studies, Applied Psychology, Sociology, Cultural Studies, and Human-Computer Interaction.
In Avatars, media psychologist Rabindra Ratan draws from two decades of pioneering research to explain how avatars shape the way we think, feel, and connect in an increasingly mediated world. Through accessible theory and compelling examples, Ratan defines what avatars are across digital and physical forms, explores how people relate to them as extensions and partners of the self, and reveals how avatars influence human behaviour — often in ways we do not consciously recognize. Moving from the psychology of identification and customization to the power of avatars for persuasion and influence, this book charts the past, present, and emerging future of human-avatar relationships.
Combining rigorous analysis with personal insight from a career at the forefront of avatar research, this book offers a clear and engaging framework for understanding how our virtual selves are transforming not just media, but what it means to be human. Avatars is essential reading for students and researchers in Media, Communication, STS, Game Studies, Applied Psychology, Sociology, Cultural Studies, and Human-Computer Interaction.
Rabindra Ratan is Professor and AT&T Endowed Chair at Michigan State University.
