Relationship between Posture of Avatar and Perceived Trust

Metaverse growth highlights challenges in avatar-mediated trust due to limited non-verbal cues. This study focused on posture, a common non-verbal cue and examined how an avatar's forward-leaning, neutral, or backward-leaning posture impacts trust perception by users. In a one-factor, three-level VR experiment, participants interacted with a avatar with one of three fixed postures. Results showed that forward-leaning posture significantly increased cognitive trust compared to other postures, suggesting that it may conveys benevolence and competence in metaverse environments.