In this episode, Dr. Stephanie Buisine chats about her research on the Proteus effect, touching on a study that shows inventor-like avatars (versus street-clothes avatars) lead to more creativity in a brainstorming task ...a personal favorite!

About this week’s guest:

Dr. Stephanie Buisine is a Research Director at CESI Graduate School of Engineering and CESI School of Management. Her research is about different approaches to innovation using creativity and non-technological processes, specifically in Industry 4.0 and sustainable city applications.

Buisine is also part of the LINEACT lab, co-leading the “Learning and Innovating” team. This team focuses on multiple different sciences, including Cognitive, Management, and Social sciences. The lab tackles the problems of tomorrow, and how we can prepare for those changes and help to reach those changes.

About the SPARTIE Lab:

The Social and Psychological Approaches to Research on Technology-Interaction Effects (SPARTIE) Lab performs research on the effects of human-technology interaction, examining how the use of media technologies (e.g., avatars, agents, automobiles) influences meaningful outcomes (e.g., education, health/safety, persuasion).

The SPARTIE Lab is part of the greater academic community at the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University. More information on the lab's research projects, staff, and work can be found at the SPARTIE Lab website.

About the host:

Dr. Rabindra (Robby) Ratan, Ph. D., is an Associate Professor and AT&T Scholar at Michigan State University’s Department of Media and Information and is the Director of the SPARTIE Lab.

He is also an affiliated faculty member of the MSU Department of Psychology, the MSU College of Education’s program in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, and the MSU Center for Gender in a Global Context. Ratan received his Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, his M.A. in Communication from Stanford University, and his B.A. in Science, Technology and Society, also from Stanford University.

Dr. Ratan conducts research on the effects of human-technology interaction, examining how media technologies (e.g., avatars, agents, automobiles) influence meaningful outcomes (e.g., persuasion, education, health/safety). He is particularly interested in the Proteus effect, media-rich transportation contexts, perceptions of media as self-representations and/or social others, avatarification for health and education, and gender stereotypes in gaming contexts.

Dr. Ratan lives near Lansing with his family. More information on his work can be found on his website.