A Systematic Review of Social Presence: Definition, Antecedents, and Implications

“Studies suggest that higher levels of social presence are more beneficial in equivocal contexts wherein there is no “correct” outcome, such as negotiations (Daft and Lengel, 1986; Garau et al., 2003).”

“Incontrast to immersion, presence is the subjective experience of actually being in the mediated virtual environment (Slater and Wilbur, 1997; Witmer and Singer, 1998; Walther and Parks, 2002).”

“…with a virtual cat, view virtual humans in pain CA Canada Short et al., 1976; Nowak and Biocca, 2003 Engage in a video call with a remote participant using a telepresence robot AP Korea Choi et al., 2001 Short et al., 1976; Lombard, 1995 affordance(s) that influenced perceptions of social presence.”

“Telepresence can be defined as “the extent to which one feels present in the mediated environment, rather than in the immediate physical environment” (Steuer, 1992, p. 75).”

“Walther (1996) later expanded this theory to posit that people who communicate via text-based CMC platforms could, in some cases, achieve even higher levels of social presence than FtF interactants by carefully selecting which facets of themselves they wish to reveal (i.e., hyperpersonal model of…”

“When the perception of telepresence is strong, people should no longer be aware that their experiences are being mediated through technology (Lombard and Ditton, 1997).”

“William Gibson famously described cyberspace as a “consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation” ( Gibson, 1984, p. 51), portraying the social nature of “stepping through a barrier” (Slater and Wilbur, 1997, p. 2) into the virtual environment.”

“One significant concept that was not included due to this criterion was plausibility illusion (Slater, 2009).”

“In contrast to these medium-centric views of social presence, Walther (1992) argued that individuals are capable of adapting to different communication media, and can thus achieve their communication goals accordingly.”

“…al., 2013 Gerhard et al., 2001; Bailenson et al., 2005 Interact with a virtual cat, view virtual humans in pain CA Canada Short et al., 1976; Nowak and Biocca, 2003 Engage in a video call with a remote participant using a telepresence robot AP Korea Choi et al., 2001 Short et al., 1976; Lombard,…”

“As aspects of the immersive quality and contextual characteristics of mediated social interactions affect the perceived social presence [23], we have designed certain aspects of the application with these influencing factors in mind.”

“This experience is shaped by how intuitively users’ actions and intentions are translated into the environment [81, 90, 91].”

“Trust is further influenced by social presence [20], [32], which in turn is affected by visual representation and identity cues, such as portrait pictures [33].”

“In addition, attempts have been made to positively support student interaction also in online courses, that is to increase the experience of social presence (Oh et al., 2018).”

“Specifically, intuitive interfaces and human-like feedback help individuals regain confidence in problem-solving, compensating for the control lost due to mortality salience, thereby increasing preference for anthropomorphized products [29].”

“PSP refers to the extent to which a robot is perceived as a real social partner rather than a mechanical device (Oh et al., 2018).”

“Also, AR often amplifies co‐ presence feeling and emotional engagement by placing a virtual agent in the user's physical space (Miller et al. 2019; Oh et al. 2018).”

“The type of activity users engage in when immersed in a virtual environment – whether collaborative or competitive – has been shown to influence perceived levels of social presence (Oh et al. 2018; Yassien et al. 2020; Dubosc et al. 2021).”

“Multi-user synchronous VR, where students appear as avatars and communicate through voice or gestures, has been shown to strengthen co-presence and collaborative engagement (Oh et al., 2018; Radianti et al., 2020).”

“However, relying solely on text can diminish social presence [24], negatively affecting satisfaction [8] and performance [41].”

“Visual representation, including the degree to which the representation looks and behaves like a person, also in fl uences social presence (Oh et al., 2018).”

“When interacting with a simulated virtual pedestrian in VR, proximity was identified as an indicator of social presence [Fox et al. 2014; Oh et al. 2018].”

“It encompasses tel-epresence, where users feel transported to remote locations, and social presence—feeling connected with real people in virtual environments, which influences persuasion and attraction (Oh et al. 2018).”

“While social presence is typically linked to computer-mediated communication among real people (Kreijns et al., 2022), at times, artificial social agents are included in this type of presence (Cummings & Wertz, 2023; C. S.”

“…choice to conceal the absence of the real instructor is justified by previous research indicating that the extent to which a virtual entity is perceived as being controlled by an actual person rather than by a computer (perceived agency) influences user experience and social presence in a VE [17,36].”

“Oh et al. (2018) reviewed 152 studies and found evidence for the positive impact of immersion and context on social presence.”

“Self-location is not always included in the definitions of sense of embodiment [30] however, and can instead be linked to the notion of presence [26].”

“…we collected several common HRI instruments at the end of each 30-minute game session, including the Godspeed scale (Bartneck et al., 2009) for measuring general perceptions of a robot/agent and the Networked Minds instrument (Biocca et al., 2001) for measuring social presence (Oh et al., 2018).”

“As Oh et al. (2018) con fi rm, ‘ studies have shown that social presence is associated with a variety of positive communication outcomes, such as persuasion and attraction ’ (Oh et al., 2018, p. 3).”

“Two of the most studied psychological traits include collaborative learning (Richardson & Swan, 2003) and the need to belong (Oh et al., 2018).”

“Live streaming can afford a sense of presence through its synchronous interactions that involve immediate feedback, non-verbal cues, and language use variety (Kowert and Daniel, 2021; Oh et al., 2018).”

“The concept of social presence was initially studied and established in virtual reality research, where participants form a sense of being part of social interaction with other human players and artificial entities such as avatars (Oh, Bailenson, and Welch 2018).”

“This concept is seen as a psychological experience offered by the mediated system and differs from immersion—which designates what technology brings from a purely objective point of view through the intrinsic qualities of the mediated system [16].”

“Oh et al. [17] conducted a review of the literature concerning social presence.”

“One approach argues that different media has different properties and abilities to produce rich social information [2], which commonly brings researchers to explore whether the perceived social presence levels change while interacting through one medium compared to others [12].”

“With the help of the NVivo software, answers to the text-based interview questions were categorized and coded according to the attributes (interactivity, social cues, visual representation, psychological traits, technical issues, and personality and agency) of social presence (Oh et al. 2018).”

“This means that many of the design choices made by the authors were not grounded in relevant HCI or educational theories such as place plausibility [71], embodied cognition [2], situated cognition [6], and social presence [59].”

“To evaluate the effects, we utilized two common standardized scales: Godspeed scale [1] for measuring perceptions of a robot/agent and the Networked Minds instrument [6] for measuring social presence [27].”

“It serves as a crucial indicator for assessing the “sense of real presence” in a social environment (Oh et al., 2018; Short et al., 1976).”

“While the spatial and social dimensions of presence have been adopted in pivotal theoretical studies (see Lombard & Jones, 2015), most empirical research has only considered one dimension or the other (Cummings & Bailenson, 2016; Oh et al., 2018).”

“Lastly, questionnaires cannot capture the subtle changes in interaction [80].”

“Increased interaction allows users to feel more immersed in the virtual environment (Geris and Tunga 2020; Nilsson, Nordahl, and Serafin 2016; Oh, Bailenson, and Welch 2018).”

“Eye contact is a key non-verbal cue that signals awareness and enhances social connection, while nodding indicates engagement in conversations [60].”

“Originally conceived to describe the degree of “being there” experienced in communication technologies [2], SP has broadened in scope to encompass the nuances of engagement and relational dynamics between humans and artificial social agents.”

“Interactive environments that dynamically respond to user actions and facilitate social interactions with avatars enhance immersion and presence, intensifying the feeling of “being there” and making the experience more engaging and realistic (Bowman & McMahan, 2007; Oh et al., 2018).”

“The capacities of VR to deliver a vivid illusion and experience that simulate reality are associated with the participant’s sense of presence (Oh et al., 2018).”

“This validated questionnaire is commonly used in research to measure social presence in a variety of contexts [3, 41, 57].”

“The experience of presence, however, cannot be taken for granted but varies across interactions, depending on specific circumstances of the interaction at hand (Oh et al., 2018).”

“When engaging with other players who are physically present, social presence can be enhanced through the use of shared physical spaces, such as virtual reality arcades or gaming lounges, that provide a sense of community and shared experience [33].”

“When the virtual environment contains other people, this sense of presence takes on a social aspect relating the user to those depicted [55].”

“VR technologies can include a number of technological affordances that promote social presence, such as behavioral realism of avatars, haptic feedback, and physical proximity [42].”

“The fi ndings for screen size did not support our predictions; however, past studies have provided mixed evidence about the association between screen size and social presence (see Oh et al., 2018).”

“Social presence is a measurable indicator for users’ sensation of others within a shared VE [58].”

“The degree of elicited presence depends on various factors, including the user’s individual psychological traits (Oh et al., 2018) as well as the VR system’s technical capability to deliver a realistic, convincing environment (i.”

“…is not just a mechanistic interaction, but a highly context-dependent enactment comparable to physical “sense of being with another” (Biocca et al., 2003, p. 456); it “renders persons uniquely accessible, available, and subject to one another” (Goffman, 1959, p. 22; see also Oh et al., 2018).”

“In-app social presence, or the feeling of being with others, was assessed using five adapted Likert-type items (Feng et al., 2016; Oh et al., 2018).”

“We hypothesize that for the agent to be perceived as a “real person”, its social actions are important such as leaving resources to the one in need, responding appropriately to player actions, but that also simple auditory/visual cues may play a critical role [2].”

“VR specifcally has shown promise to support such connections through increased sense of social presence [59].”

“Hence, social agencies should learn to operationalize the presence theory (Oh et al., 2018; Song & Hollenbeck, 2015) to develop prosocial messages with a strong sense of presence in order to influence individuals to act on social campaigns.”

“In XR settings it comprises three dimensions—co-presence (perceiving others’ presence), psychological involvement (attending to others), and behavioral engagement (mutual interaction) (Oh et al., 2018).”

“Oh et al. (57, 102) further confirmed that avatars that closely resemble real people in both appearance and behavior foster deeper perceptions of realism and interpersonal connection.”

“This finding aligns with the previous research that emphasizes the importance of social presence in enhancing user experience and psychological outcomes in virtual settings (Green, 2023; Oh et al., 2018).”

“…are perceived as being real and the extent to which the user is able to interact with and navigate within the virtual world (cummings and Bailenson 2016; Oh, Bailenson, and Welch 2018; skalski and tamborini 2007; slater and Wilbur 1997) and allows to say that the environment facilitated the…”

“Trust has long been identified as a key factor in online purchase decisions (Oh et al., 2018).”

“…analysing interaction, it is important to clarify the concept of immersion, which has been used both to characterize a human sense of being in some alternate reality related to ‘presence’ (Nilsson et al. 2016), as well as a technology’s capacity to mediate the alternate experience (Oh et al. 2018).”

“Although few studies have discussed the relationship between PI and SP in MMCs, a review article by Oh et al. (2018)suggested that interactivity features of technologies and information processes were predictors of SP.”

“This implies that some elements that tend to affect behavioral realism (e.g., animation fidelity) must be carefully calibrated to avoid causing greater feelings of eeriness [16].”

“While the link between social presence and the emotional quality of communication necessitates further exploration [64], our study highlights a potential downside: the heightened perception of social presence can inadvertently increase user nervousness.”

“Current technology can convey social presence, but various factors ( i.e. immersive, contextual, and individual) impact the translation of presence (Oh et al., 2018).”

“Consideration should be given to ‘communication preferences and goals of the interactants’ (Oh et al., 2018, p. 25), which may include other forms of real-time participation via technological tools such as the chatbox and polls as well as asynchronous responses, such as emails and the viewing of…”

“A friendly and supportive learning environment fosters active engagement in meaningful learning activities for students (Oh et al., 2018).”

“Besides becoming more competent, this led networked social interactions to feel more realistic and intimate to them, as fundamental aspects of social presence (Bouchillon, 2022; Oh et al., 2018).”

“According to studies investigating the effect of presence and realism of avatars in CVEs, visual representations increase the feeling of social presence [48, 62], both for the collaboration partner and for self-representation.”

“A range of factors influences social presence, from the presence or absence of a visual representation of the other person to the photographic and behavioral realism of that person [28].”

“At the end of the session, participants were asked to fi ll a post-test questionnaire, which collected metrics including presence (Skarbez, Brooks, and Whitton 2017), social presence (Oh, Bailenson, and Welch 2018), emotional involvement (Baños et al. 2000) and usability during the session.”