ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Media Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1705591
Avatar Diversity Perception Scale (ADPS): A new multidimensional measure for perceived human avatar diversity
Provisionally accepted
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
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Avatars are increasingly used as digital representations of human diversity. However, the study of how avatar diversity is perceived is complicated by significant conceptual challenges. Thus, this research seeks to engage in early theory building by developing a measure of perceived avatar diversity. Through preliminary qualitative interviews and a survey, study 1 establishes four dimensions of the perceived diversity. Study 2 provides initial validation for the factor structure via a confirmatory factor analysis. Following analyses and model adjustments, the studies support a 23-item, three-dimensional structure, consisting of perceived heterogeneity (variation in avatars), diversity concerns (adverse reactions to using avatars for diversity), and context-dependent diversity (time-and community-bound nature of avatar diversity). This scale development lays a foundation for future work investigating the antecedents and mechanisms accounting for perceived avatar diversity. Our findings offer industry practitioners actionable principles in creating avatars that are heterogenous, authentic, relatable, and dynamic for effective diversity representations.
Keywords: perceived diversity, Avatar, scale development, construct validity, Reliability
Received: 15 Sep 2025; Accepted: 21 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lin, Lou and Ho. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chen Lou, chenlou@ntu.edu.sg
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.