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Brave New World: How the Metaverse May Shape Our Psychology

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Apr 01, 2022

In a book published in 1962 called Diffusion of Innovations, communications theorist Everett Rogers presented a most convincing theory of how innovation spreads and comes to be accepted by users over a period of time. He posited that any new product is initially used only by a small number of innovators, followed by a slightly larger group of early adopters and then the majority.

References

  1. Robertson, T. S. (1967). The process of innovation and the diffusion of innovation. Journal of marketing, 31(1), 14-19.
  2. https://about.fb.com/news/2021/10/facebook-company-is-now-meta/
  3. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/microsoft-activision-what-satya-nadella-has-said-about-the-metaverse.html 
  4. https://fortune.com/2022/03/16/hsbc-buys-land-in-metaverse-joins-jpmorgan-decentraland-sandbox/
  5. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/03/how-the-1992-sci-fi-novel-snow-crash-predicted-facebooks-metaverse.html 
  6. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/apple-teases-metaverse-ar-plans-stock-jumps/articleshow/89169214.cms
  7. https://www.matthewball.vc/all/forwardtothemetaverseprimer
  8. Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. Cyberpsychology & behavior, 7(3), 321-326.
  9. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60314572
  10. Cinelli, M., Morales, G. D. F., Galeazzi, A., Quattrociocchi, W., & Starnini, M. (2021). The echo chamber effect on social media. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(9).
  11. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/26/facebook-algorithm-conservative-liberal-extremes/ 
  12. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/echo-chambers-filter-bubbles-and-polarisation-literature-review 
  13. https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-meta-metaverse-splinter-reality-more-2021-11 
  14. https://www.pacteraedge.com/why-metaverse-must-be-mindful 
  15. Lowry, P. B., Zhang, J., Wang, C., & Siponen, M. (2016). Why do adults engage in cyberbullying on social media? An integration of online disinhibition and deindividuation effects with the social structure and social learning model. Information Systems Research, 27(4), 962-986.
  16. Herring, S. C., & Kapidzic, S. (2015). Teens, gender, and self-presentation in social media. International encyclopedia of social and behavioral sciences, 2, 1-16.
  17. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/14/facebook-aware-instagram-harmful-effect-teenage-girls-leak-reveals
  18. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/05/style/teen-bodybuilding-bigorexia-tiktok.html 
  19. Macït, H. B., Macït, G., & Güngör, O. (2018). A research on social media addiction and dopamine driven feedback. Mehmet Akif Ersoy Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 5(3), 882-897.
  20. https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/

About the Author

A smiling woman in a sleeveless pink dress stands against a red brick wall next to a metal fence. Part of a red sign is visible in the top right corner.

Preeti Kotamarthi

Staff Writer · Grab

Preeti Kotamarthi is the Behavioral Science Lead at Grab, the leading ride-hailing and mobile payments app in South East Asia. She has set up the behavioral practice at the company, helping product and design teams understand customer behavior and build better products. She completed her Masters in Behavioral Science from the London School of Economics and her MBA in Marketing from FMS Delhi. With more than 6 years of experience in the consumer products space, she has worked in a range of functions, from strategy and marketing to consulting for startups, including co-founding a startup in the rural space in India. Her main interest lies in popularizing behavioral design and making it a part of the product conceptualization process.

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