Effects of Organizational and Behavioral Reactions of Virtual Crowds on Users’ Affect and Behavior in a Simulated Stressful Situation

Evidence from the behavioral psychology literature suggests that in unexpected stressful situations, crowd behavior can have a direct impact on people’s emotions and behaviors. This paper investigates whether this effect is elicited in immersive virtual reality by a crowd of virtual humans (VHs) in an external stressful situation induced by a fire. We conducted a mixed-design study in an experimental scenario where users were asked to collect 10 items from a virtual market. The between-subjects factors were reaction type and agent type, while the within-subjects factor was the simulation phase, which included the normal and stressful situations. There were two reaction types where the VHs showed either active (agitated) or passive (calm) behavior towards the external threat situation. For the agent type, the VHs exhibited either individualistic or group (3-4 member group) behaviors. In a mixed factorial 2(crowd type)x 2(reaction type) x 2(simulation phase) design, we examined the influences of these factors on participants’ emotional and behavioral responses. The results showed that the participants’ task performance and social interaction were affected by the simulated stressor. Negative emotions were elicited when they encountered active VHs and small groups of VHs. Furthermore, a greater change in their interpersonal closeness was experienced when interacting with small groups of VHs, than when interacting with individual VHs.