Construction of the Avatar Trust Scale (ATS): A First Step Toward Measuring Trust in Avatars

Avatars serve as virtual representations of users in digital environments. Their appearance can be freely customized, often leading to discrepancies between visual representation and the user's real identity. Such appearances may unconsciously influence interpersonal trust, complicating the assessment of trustworthiness in virtual interactions. To investigate how avatar characteristics influence trust, we developed and preliminarily validated the Avatar Trust Scale (ATS), a tool designed to quantify trust specifically in the context of avatars. Based on data from a German sample of 840 participants, our findings suggest a two-factor structure: Specific Trust (trustworthiness, security, and willingness to interact) and General Trust (propensity to trust avatars and humans, and avatar literacy). The scale was validated using questionnaire data and behavioral tasks (i.e., trust game, dictator game, ultimatum game). Participants interacted with a virtual agent rather than a user-controlled avatar, providing initial validation in a controlled context and laying the groundwork for future research on avatar-mediated trust.