ABSTRACT
Consumers are human and so inherently social beings sensitive to the meanings of actions and expressions of other beings, even other avatars found in virtual worlds. Automatic social responses are likely to invoke established social rules and dynamics from offline interactions so that they are transferred to online interactions with avatars. Social interaction relies on smooth synchronization, which can be difficult to achieve in online communication. Interaction behavior depends on goals, but the precise form of the behavior is dependent on societal norms, roles, understandings, and customs organized into expected interaction patterns resulting from past experiences. Burgoon and Walther define interaction expectations as cognitions about the anticipated communication behavior of specific others. In naturalistic situations, schema and goal activation is often automatic. Hence, interactions meeting expectations and norms of a relational schema move along relatively automatically as exchanges that fit with expectancies have little need for conscious monitoring.
