Communication 166/266

Virtual People
Fall, 2012-2013
Tues/Thurs 12:50pm-2:05pm

Professor:
Office:
Office Hours:
Phone:
Email:

Jeremy Bailenson
344 McClatchy Hall
Tuesday, 2:30-4:00 PM
723-0701
Bailenson@stanford.edu

Teaching Assistants:
Office:
Office Hours:
Email:

Andrea Stevenson Won

3rd Floor, McClatchy Hall
Andrea Stevenson Won, Wednesdays, 11:00AM-1:00PM
aswon@stanford.edu
Course Description

Topics include defining the concept of virtual people (i.e., digital human representations),
discussing methods of constructing and utilizing virtual people, methodological
approaches to understanding interactions with and among virtual people, and exploring
current applications of virtual people. This class examines virtual people from the
viewpoint of various disciplines, including popular culture (how are virtual people
defined in literature and film?), engineering (how are virtual people actually
constructed?), behavioral science (how do actual people respond to virtual people during
interaction?), computer science (what types of algorithms drive the behaviors of virtual
people?), and communication (how can virtual people change the way people interact
with one another?).
Readings
Two books and additional readings posted on Coursework are assigned for the course.
Both books are available in the bookstore and there are five copies of Infinite Reality on
reserve in Green Library.
William Gibson, Neuromancer, Ace Books, 1984.
Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson, Infinite Reality, Harper Collins, 2011.

Course Requirements

Final grades will be based on an in-class mid-term examination (30%), an in-class final
examination (40%), participation in lecture and section (25%), and completion of 5
experiment hours (5%).
The mid-term examination will be in class on Thursday, October 25th, 2012. The final
examination will be during the time indicated on Axess. Exams will cover readings and
lectures. Typically, the lectures will not cover the specific information provided in the
readings, so it is wise to do the reading and attend the lectures. The final exam will be
comprehensive. Both exams will consist of multiple choice items and written short
answer items. Students may not move the date of the examination to facilitate their
departure from Stanford. Having plane tickets will not be an excuse for moving the date
of the examination.
All students will be required to be participants in experiments conducted in the
Communication Department. Each student will be assigned to complete a prescreening
survey in the first two weeks of class and then five hours of experiments (not five
experiments). The exact amount will be determined by fate; thus, the number will likely
vary, sometimes considerably, from student to student. Students who do not wish to
participate as subjects in experiments have the option of writing a term paper.
Electronic devices such as computers and smart phones are not allowed in class. A
student whose cell phone rings in class will lose one third of a letter on their final grade
(i.e., an A- will become a B+).
Course Calendar and Readings
Tuesday, September 25th

Course Introduction

Part I: Introduction, what is a virtual person?

Thursday, September 27th

Psychological Relativity

Infinite Reality, Chapter 1, Dream Machines

Tuesday, October 2nd

Definitions, Avatars and Agents,Neuromancer

Bailenson, J. N. & Blascovich, J. (2004). Avatars. In W.S. Bainbridges (Eds.) Encyclopedia of

Human-Computer Interaction, Berkshire Publishing Group, 64-68.
Neuromancer

Part II: Engineering Virtual People

Thursday October 4th

Natural Language Processing

AI Magazine. Building Watson: An Overview of the DeepQA Project.

Schank, R. Abelson, P. (1977). Scripts, Plans, Goals and Understanding: an Inquiry into Human
Knowledge Structures (Chap. 1-2), L. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ

Tuesday, October 9th

Tracking People

Infinite Reality, Chapter 3, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Thursday, October 11th

Embodiment

Gratch, J., Rickel, J., Andr, E., Badler, N., Cassell, J., and Petajan, E. (2002), "Creating
Interactive Virtual Humans: Some Assembly Required," IEEE Intelligent Systems, July/August
2002, pp. 54-63.
Infinite Reality, Chapter 4, Winning Virtual Friends and Influencing Virtual

Tuesday, October 16th

Personality Capture and Social Algorithms

Braitenberg, V. (1984) Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Infinite Reality, Chapter 9, Eternal Life

Part III: Behavioral Science and Virtual People

Thursday October 18th

Social Influence

Blascovich, J., Loomis, J., Beall, A., Swinth, K., Hoyt, C., & Bailenson, J.N. (2002). Immersive
virtual environment technology as a methodological tool for social psychology. Psychological
Inquiry, 13, 103-124.
Infinite Reality, Chapter 5, The Virtual Laboratory

Tuesday October 23rd

Presence and Social Presence

Lee, K., M. (2004). Presence, Explicated. Communication Theory, 14, 27-50.

Biocca, F. (1997, September). The cyborg's dilemma: Progressive embodiment in virtual
environments. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(2). Retrieved October 7, 2003
from http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol3/issue2/biocca2.html

Thursday, October 25th

Midterm

Tuesday, October 30th

Anthropomorphism

Mori, M. (1970) (translated by Karl F. MacDorman and Norri Kageki, 2012) The Uncanny Valley.
IEEE Spectrum
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/the-uncanny-valley
Additional reading TBA

Thursday, November 1st

The Effect of Avatars on the Self

Infinite Reality, Chapter 6, Who Am I?

Infinite Reality, Chapter 7, Re-creating Yourself

Tuesday, November 6th

The Effect of Avatars on Others

Infinite Reality, Chapter 8, Street Smarts

Thursday, November 8th

Digital Footprints

Infinite Reality, Chapter 10, Digital Footprints

Part IV: Applied Uses of Virtual People

Tuesday, November 13th

Broad Applications

Infinite Reality, Chapter 12,Virtually Useful

Reeves, B., Malone, T.W., ODriscoll, T. (2008) Leaderships Online Labs. Harvard Business
Review

Thursday, November 15th

Education

Dede, C. (2009). Immersive Interfaces for Engagement and Learning, Science Magazine, January
2.

November 19-23, Thanksgiving break

Tuesday, November 27th

Yin and Yang

Infinite Reality, Chapter 11, The Virtual Jones

Infinite Reality, Chapter 13, Virtual Yin and Yang

Thursday, November 29th

Homuncular Flexibility

Reading TBA

Tuesday, December 4th

up

Conclusions/Experimental Debriefing/Wrap-

Thursday, December 6th

Review