AVATARIN KADAR KONUŞ: FARKLI OLMA İHTİYACI VE MATERYALİZM EĞİLİMİNİN GENİŞLETİLMİŞ BENLİK ÜZERİNDEKİ ETKİSİ

Öz

Kişilerin benliklerinin önemli bir aracı olarak kabul edilen avatarlar, sanal dünyada olduğu kadar gerçek dünyada da kişinin deneyimlerinin aracı rolünü üstlenmekte ve sahiplerini temsil etmektedir. Kişiler söz konusu avatarları aracılığıyla benliklerini genişletebilmektedir. Çalışmada kişilerin benliklerinin kişisel özelliklerinden etkilenebileceği varsayımıyla, kişilerin farklı olma ihtiyacı ile materyalizm eğilimlerinin genişletilmiş benlik üzerindeki etkisi ele alınmaktadır. Söz konusu ilişkide düşünme ihtiyacı değişkeninin düzenleyici rol oynadığı düşünülmektedir. Bu kapsamda, düşük ve yüksek düşünme ihtiyacı seviyeleri için model test edilmiştir. Çalışmanın örneklemi kartopu örneklem yöntemi ile belirlenen 253 kişiden oluşmaktadır. Örneklem, “Devasa Çok Oyunculu Çevrimiçi Rol Yapma Oyun”larını MMORPG oynayan ve bu oyunlarda avatar oluşturmuş kişilerden oluşmaktadır. Hipotezler PASW 18 programı tarafından çoklu regresyon analizi ile değerlendirilmiştir. Analiz sonuçlarına göre, farklı olma ihtiyacı ve materyalizm değişkenlerinin sahip olunan avatar kapsamında genişletilmiş benliğe etkisinde düşünme ihtiyacının düzenleyici etkisi istatistiki olarak anlamlı bulunmuştur. Buna göre düşünme ihtiyacının düşük seviyeleri için materyalizm değişkeni ile genişletilmiş benlik arasında istatistiki olarak anlamlı bir ilişki bulunurken, yüksek düşünme ihtiyacı seviyelerinde farklı olma ihtiyacı ve genişletilmiş benlik arasında istatistiki olarak anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmuştur. Ayrıca modelin açıklama gücü düşünme ihtiyacının yüksek seviyelerinde düşük seviyelerine göre önemli ölçüde yükselmektedir

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Farklı olma ihtiyacı,düşünme ihtiyacı,genişletilmiş benlik,materyalizm,avatar

THE EFFECT OF NEED FOR UNIQUENESS AND MATERIALISM ON EXTENDED SELF

Öz

The avatars, which are considered as an important tool of the self, act as a mediator of one’s experiences and represent its owners, in the real world as well as in the virtual world. People can expand their self through their avatars. The study deals with the impact of the need for uniqueness and materialism tendencies on the extended self. In this relationship, the need for cognition is thought to play a moderator role. In this context, the model has been tested for low and high need for cognition levels. The study sample consists of 253 people identified with the snowball sampling technique. The sample consists of people who create an avatar in “Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games” MMORPG . Hypotheses were evaluated with multiple regression analysis via PASW 18. According to the results, to consider the need for cognition as a moderator variable for the relation between need for cognition, materialism tendency, and extended self within online context is statistically significant. Accordingly, a statistically significant relation was found between materialism and the extended self for the low levels of the need for cognition, while for high levels of need for cognition, a statistically significant relation was found between the need for uniqueness and the extended self. Also, the explanatory power of the model is dramatically increased for high levels of need for cognition, compared to the lower levels

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Need for uniqueness,need for cognition,extended self,materialism,avatar

Kaynakça

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