The Impact of Personality Traits on the Experience of Presence

This study was designed to examine the correlation between five personality traits (empathy, imagination, immersive tendencies, dissociation tendencies and locus of control) and presence. Additionally, the study attempted to identify an optimal Virtual Reality user profile. Sixty one students (43 women & 18 men) completed personality questionnaires, experienced exposure in a virtual environment and completed a presence questionnaire. Although presence correlated with immersive tendencies and empathy, empathy and internal locus of control (and not immersive tendencies) were the best predictors for the sense of presence. Thus, this study revealed the importance of empathy and internal locus of control in sense of presence.