Consensus and (lack of) accuracy in perceptions of avatar trustworthiness

In some online interactions, people use avatars to represent themselves and judge whether interaction partners should be trusted. However, little is known about human accuracy in perceptions of avatar trustworthiness. We conducted a two-stage study investigate are able accurately trustworthiness avatars. Stage 1, participants created using avatarmaker.com made decisions as trustees an incentivized trust game (N = 360 avatars). 2, new group 315 raters) were presented with 1; rated their trustworthiness; them. observed three main results: First, there was high level consensus Differences judgments mainly attributed differences between (rather than raters). Second, raters' guided by Third, not associated actual creators. People not, on average, identify the creators from appearance. Our results suggest that erroneously rely others’ appearance interactions.