ArticleScientific reports2022
Embodying the avatar of an omnipotent agent modulates the perception of one's own abilities and enhances feelings of invulnerability.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Visual perspective and body ownership modulate vicarious pain and touch: A systematic review.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2024Pooled it
- Bringing the museum into the hospital to promote cultural wellness in patients undergoing haemodialysis through a virtual reality tour.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Non-immersive robot teleoperation does not reliably affect egocentric dishonesty but can influence altruistic dishonesty.iScience · 2026Article
- Differential interference of body- and non-body-related representational conflicts on error and performance monitoring in flanker tasks.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Perfectionism and college students' psychological adaptation: the mediating and moderating role of physical education satisfaction.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Article
- An Iterative Participatory Design Approach to Develop Collaborative Augmented Reality Activities for Older Adults in Long-Term Care Facilities.Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. CHI Conference · 2024Article
- A theoretical review of the Proteus effect: understanding the underlying processes.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
- Michelangelo Effect in Virtual Sculpturing: Prospective for Motor Neurorehabilitation in the Metaverse.Journal of cognition · 2024Article
- Virtual Art Therapy: Application of Michelangelo Effect to Neurorehabilitation of Patients with Stroke.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Effects of appearance and gender on pre-touch proxemics in virtual reality.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Immersive virtual reality can give people the illusion of owning artificial bodies (i.e., avatars) and controlling their actions. Tellingly, people appear to adhere to the newly embodied entities not just on the basis of physical traits but also behaving accordingly with the hallmarks of the represented characters. In two studies we pushed the limits of this process by testing if one's own sense of power could be affected by embodying the anthropomorphic representation of the Christian God, that is considered an omnipotent entity. A human Muscled and a Normotype avatar were used as controls. Results showed that participants embodying the God-avatar: (i) reacted to a threatening event compromising their physical safety by exhibiting a lower skin conductance response and heart rate deceleration compared to the Normotype-control avatar (Study 1); (ii) estimated they had more physical abilities compared to both the Normotype-control and the Muscled-control avatars (Study 2). Taken together, our findings suggest that embodying an omnipotent agent may exert an influence on people's perception of their own limits and capabilities, nourishing feelings of physical invulnerability and strength. Our study indicates that effectively embodying virtual role models may boost achievements and have translational implications in the field of empowerment.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.