ATLANTA, Sept. 25, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Spunlogic, an award-winning interactive marketing and technology agency, released today the findings of a survey on the perceptions of infidelity in online and virtual world environments.
With social networks, text messaging, and even virtual worlds beginning to play a role in interpersonal relationships, real-world effects are beginning to take shape. An example made headlines recently -- a man, who created a character representing himself in the virtual world Second Life, married his "in-world" romantic interest, prompting his real-world wife to file for divorce.
Intrigued by what this could mean to the future of socially-accepted behaviors, Spunlogic's Behavioral Research team developed a survey that would allow for deeper insight into the average person's opinion of technology-mediated interactions.
"These results explain the recent debate about whether a man's wife should have filed for divorce after he married another woman in a virtual world," said Shelby Majors, the Spunlogic researcher who conducted the survey.
Over 130 survey respondents were asked to imagine that someone they knew who was in a committed relationship had said "I love you" or "I want to marry you" to someone other than the person who they were committed to. Participants were asked to rate this scenario from 1 (Definitely Faithful) to 7 (Definitely Unfaithful) depending on how the interaction occurred. Methods for interaction included text message, email, a written letter, instant message/chatroom, MySpace/Facebook, and virtual worlds.
The responses were segmented by survey respondent demographics, including age, relationship status, and gender:
* Almost 90% of respondents reported that they considered
face-to-face interactions to be definitely unfaithful. But as
the level of technology-mediated interaction increased, this
perception steadily decreased. Only 58% of respondents
reported that virtual world interactions were unfaithful.
* Males have a much greater tolerance for infidelity -- only 46%
believed that virtual worlds interactions were definitely
unfaithful with respect to the scenario they were given.
Contrast this with the 63% of women who perceived these
interactions to be definitely unfaithful.
* Respondents aged 24 and under showed a greater tolerance for
infidelity as technology mediated interaction increased. They
showed large differences in email, text messaging, instant
messaging, and social networks when compared to their older
counterparts.
* Those in a committed relationship showed a heightened level
of sensitivity about infidelity when compared to those who
were not in committed relationships. Across the board, those
not in a committed relationship were less likely to consider
the survey scenario to be unfaithful when compared to their
counterparts.
"Infidelity, a behavior normally deemed unacceptable in human-human interaction, becomes more acceptable when interactions are mediated by various technologies," said Dr. Melissa Read, Spunlogic's Director of Behavioral Research. "What other socially inappropriate behaviors might be perceived as acceptable when produced in technology-mediated interactions. And, more importantly, why?"
Click to see chart of Perceptions of Infidelity by Technology Type: http://www.spunlogic.net/Spunlogic/Press/September_2007_Spunlogic_Perceptions_of_Fidelity_Chart.jpg
About Spunlogic
Spunlogic, formed in 1998, is an award-winning interactive marketing and technology agency that uses an in-depth understanding of the user experience to help companies attract, convert and retain customers. The agency provides a full range of solutions including user experience strategy, behavioral research, interactive design, web development, email marketing, online advertising, intranet/portal design and development, virtual world development and e-commerce applications. Spunlogic is the Email Agency of Record for InterContinental Hotels Group and the Interactive Agency of Record for the State of Georgia. The agency also boasts a roster of both local and national clients including Coca-Cola, The Home Depot, Philips, Anheuser-Busch, Georgia Pacific, Cox Enterprises, AutoTrader, EarthLink and SeaWorld. To learn more about Spunlogic's capabilities, contact Spunlogic at sales@spunlogic.com or call 404.601.4321.